Helping Destiny
by zipporah grace
Summary: After an ill-advised wish, Danny is whisked away to Aang's world. For what purpose? Even he doesn't know.
1. I Wish I May, I Wish I Might

**Yeah, so I've been reading a lot of Danny Phantom and Avatar crossovers…and I know the idea of Danny being in Aang's world has been used a LOT, but I couldn't help making my own.**

**So…uh…yeah. Hehe. Sorry about the other two stories…Okay, I know you're mad, but are bombs really necessary?**

**This is set before season 3 (of course) of DP and during early season 3 of Avatar.**

**-ZG**

**#**

You know a year of fighting ghosts 24/7 can really get to a guy.

I mean, think about it: that's a year of lying, getting two hours of sleep each night, and getting beat up because almost every spectral being in the city hates your guts.

I change back as I get near my door, my whole self stinging. Looks like Skulker got a new batch of knives. Merry Christmas, my butt.

I open the door, checking the time on my watch. Three in the morning. Great.

I would usually just fly up there, but I'm too tired to even go intangible. I trudge over to the kitchen, getting a snack. What? Fighting megalomaniacs and obsessed bounty hunters burns calories.

I grab some of tonight's leftovers and turn on the microwave, sitting down. Maybe I can get a minute of sleep before I eat…

"Danny?"

Nope.

Of course not.

I look up. "Oh," I say. "Hey, Mom."

She's dressed in a flannel version of her jumpsuit, hoodie included. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Can't sleep," I lie. "Too hungry."

She looks at the microwave that is currently cooking up some pasta. "That's the fifth time this month? Are you sure the insomnia pills are working?"

"Oh yeah," I say. With that, I have the memory of throwing them in the dumpster. "They're doing fine. I just-" I yawn. "I just need to eat something. Then I'll go to bed."

"You better," she says. "You have that exam in the morning, remember?"

The exam.

The one I never studied for.

Because of the ghosts.

Fate, you can stop laying cruel tricks on me. I get it, its fun. But it you really just need to find a different hobby that isn't _torturing me._

"I will, Mom," I tell her. I yawn again. "Don't worry about me."

She looks at me warily before going back to her room.

Great. Now I'll have to cram for an hour before I can fall asleep. Maybe I can get in just a minute…

The microwave beeps and my stomach growls.

I slowly get to the microwave and pull out the tub of spaghetti. I hold it for a second before I realize how hot it is and drop the tub, leaving spilt sauce everywhere.

"Damn it," I mutter. So much for food.

I clean it up and dump it all the trash can, going upstairs to set out everything I need to study.

I would say that I studied, but that'd be a lie. In all honesty I kind of just stared at everything for ten minutes, zoning out.

I snap out of it, finally, and decide to screw it. I shove everything off of my bed, wincing as I hit some of my recent scrapes.

Not even bothering to change into sleepwear, I get underneath my comforter and start to drift off.

In the middle of being the star football player you just beat Dash into a pulp, I'm shocked awake by a cold chill in my throat.

"Oh great," I mutter, using whatever energy I have left to leap out of bed, looking around. Nothing's there. I yawn. "I just wish I could go someplace so that I could _sleep_ for a little bit," I whine to myself.

But I instantly regret saying it.

"Wait, no I don't! I didn't wish for anything!" I say to my room. But it's too late.

"_So you have wished it, and so it shall be._"

**#**

Clockwork smiles.

He knows young Danny would be say that, so he felt the need to guide a bored Desiree over to him. She knows about alternate universes as much as he does, fortunately. Well, for him it is fortunate. For others? Not so much.

"Do you think this is a very good idea?" an Observer asks.

Clockwork smiles. "The boy's current…condition of being half human _and_ his knowledge of the Ghost Zone will prove useful for the universe that needs him."

"But how will his universe deal without him?" another Observer inquires.

Clockwork rolls his eyes. "Do you guys ever stop to think that I am the Master of Time? Only a day or so may pass where he used to be, at the most."

The first Observer shakes it's…eyeball. "There are a lot of possibilities in doing this, Clockwork. And many of them are failure."

"I trust the boy. He was able to shape his own destiny. I can't see how he would have trouble helping another's."

"You have no idea of how he could muddle the time stream!" the second Observer tells him. "If you left him where he was, he could solve it when the problem reached him!"

"By then it would be too late," Clockwork explains. "Don't get your robes in a bunch." He looks onto the screen. "Everything is as it should be."

**#**

Nice going, Fenton. You just _had_ to wish. You never wish ever since Desiree showed up. You're losing your game. You've lost your touch.

You're…in a forest.

Huh?

It's black as night, and through my night vision I can see trees, but no animals. I'm on a branch, sitting in a reclined position. I'm still in human form.

There's no one in sight. Not even Desiree. Nobody's here.

Where am I? I go over what I last said.

I wished to go someplace that I could sleep.

I reevaluate the situation again. There are no monsters. No hunters. No mysterious strangers. I'm completely alone in this strange little forest.

I yawn again.

"Well," I say, closing my eyes. "Maybe I can figure out where I am in the morning."

And I drift peacefully off into sleep.

…

I wake up, fully rested. Man, I haven't gotten that many hours of sleep in a long time. I look up and notice the sun is at its peak. It must be noon.

"The exam!" I realize, falling off of the tree branch in surprise. I brace myself for the impact, going intangible and sinking two feet beneath the ground. I emerge in a cliché zombie-like fashion, yawning and stretching.

I look around again. This is nothing like Amity Park. For one, there's not city. Just trees and sounds of birds chirping. And everything looks a little off. Like everything was made in a different style or something.

"Where am I?" I ask to nobody. "Desiree? Are you there? Where'd you put me?"

No answer.

"Sam? Tucker?" Nothing. "Mom? Dad?" Still nothing. I wince. "Mr. Lancer?"

Silence. Silence and happy bird chirping, which doesn't really fit the mood.

I pull out my cell phone, checking the time. "12:30," I read aloud. "Great, I missed the test. Lancer is going to _murder _me." I sigh. "Well, I better take a lot around and try to figure out where the hell I am. I just hope I can get out of here."

Oh look, I'm talking to myself.

Because I'm in perfect mental health, being alone in a strange place and all.

I walk for a good hour and still find nothing. This forest is endless, and frankly I'm getting kind of sick of it. I miss my city.

_Crack!_

I whip around. "Who's out there?" I ask, getting into a defensive stance. I'm prepared to go ghost, but they person might've seen me. I don't want to reveal my secret _now_.

I hear a chirping sound, and there's a flash of black and white between the trees. Okay, it's just a bird.

A bird with a tail.

Wait…what?

I walk closer to the tree the creature has supposedly landed on, trying to get a better view. I peer around the trunk to the see the thing.

It's honestly the weirdest creature I've ever seen. And that's saying something.

It looks like a lemur. So am I in Madagascar? I didn't know Desiree was so powerful. But the lemur-thing has rabbit ears; like big rabbit ears. It munches on a peach absentmindedly.

"Whoa," I say out loud. It stops chewing and looks at me.

Crap.

Startled, it hops its way up the branch and…flies?

The thing has bat wings.

Okay, now I'm seriously weirded out. Not only am I alone in a forest, but I'm alone in a forest filled with _mutants._

I really need to get out here.

"Momo!" a voice calls. It sounds like a little boy. "Momo, where are you?"

It gets closer with each word. I need to hide. I go behind a tree and turn invisible, flying up a branch and peeking out.

A boy comes into view. He's got dark black hair and a red headband. He's wearing some sort of weird samurai clothing; that's the only way to describe it. It's red and black and a little poofy. It doesn't weird me out too much; I've been the Comic Con with Tucker before. Maybe he's just an avid cosplayer.

But weirds me out is the fact that he's riding on a ball of air.

"Momo, buddy!" he calls. "Where'd you go?"

The ball of air dissipates and he lands on the ground, looking to a tree on his left. "There you are," he says, holding his arm out. The bat-bunny-monkey thing lands on it, still eating the peach. "Don't run off again. We need to stick together if we don't want the Fire Nation catching us."

Fire Nation?

"The Fire Nation will also catch us if our cover is blown," another voice points out. It's male, but sounds older, like around my age. Another guy emerges in samurai stuff. His hair is in a bun (I try not to laugh) and he's holding a map, analyzing it carefully. "Which is why you shouldn't airbend unless completely necessary."

Airbend?

"Come on, Sokka, nobody's here," the boy whines. "And it was just the air scooter. It's not like I was on my glider."

Sokka, I guess, scowls. "Still, you never know." He looks behind him. "Katara! Toph! Hurry up; we've got ground to cover! If we want to make it to the Fire Nation capital in time, we've got to move!"

"Calm down!" another voice demands. A girl comes into view. She's got black hair that's up in a thick, round bun and bangs the cover her eyes. Jesus, what is up with the red here? And dressing like ninjas? "It's a whole month until the eclipse. We can cover a bunch of ground. But for now, Appa is a little tired."

"Stupid sky bison…" Sokka mutters. "Can't fly him over the Fire Nation…"

"Hey, it was your idea in the first place," the boy chirps. "Don't blame him."

"He's the one who's five tons full of cover blown!" Sokka defends.

"Don't be so harsh," a female voice says. How many people are there? An older girl with dark skin and long brown hair tugs a huge white bison with an arrow on its head. Unlike the others, she's wearing a dress. Unlike the others, it's red. "And Toph's right. We have plenty of time."

"But this isn't according to the plan!" Sokka says, pulling out another roll of paper.

"We don't have to follow that plan word for word, you know," the brown-haired girl says. She smirks. "Now come on. I think there's a town a little ways from here."

Civilization. Maybe I should go talk to them.

I carefully float down to the ground and turn visible. I take a step.

"Somebody's here!" the younger girl announces.

How did she…?

I don't have time to think. I'm catapulted into the air. How did that happen? I look down while I continue to fall. In place where I was standing is a huge slab of rock.

I hit the ground, too confused to stop myself by going intangible. I stumble to get up.

"Hey, I-"

Something cold hits my chest. Water? Where'd that come from?

I hit a tree and try to move forward. I'm stuck. Looking down, I realize I'm encased in ice. How the hell did that happen? And why isn't it melting?

I look up. The older guy, Sokka, has a jagged boomerang pointed at my face. The four other kids look poised and ready to fight.

Great. These people don't like strangers.

**#**

**Ta-da?**

**So yeah, another story. I'm so sorry.**

**Review, please!**

**-ZG**


	2. Introductions

**Wow…I just…wow. I'm glad you're liking this story so much.**

**ONWARDS AOSHIMA!**

**(uh yeah, I've kind of been watching a lot of Gravity Falls lately. I apologize)**

**-ZG**

**#**

I quickly analyze the situation at hand. Nothing out of the ordinary. Being threatened with my life and forced up against an object. Just a normal Tuesday.

So…none of them are holding weapons. Okay, that's a plus. I won't have to use my ghost powers to fight my way through too much. Unless that kid decides to do that ball trick again…but that's probably harmless.

The only threat is the guy my age, and even then…

"Dude, seriously," I say. "A boomerang?"

His eye twitches. "It's a very deadly boomerang!"

I laugh. "Sure…"

The guy shakes his head. "Okay, who are you and what are you doing here?" he asks.

"I'm Danny," I say. What? If they're going to take me home, they'll need general information. "And I don't know what I'm doing here. I just woke up here and saw that strange creature-" I gesture to the apparent 'Momo'. "—and I came upon you guys."

"How much did you see?" he asks.

"Uh…" I rack my brain. Damn attention span the size of a walnut. "I heard you guys taking about a plan and something about fire." I suddenly remember something. "Oh, and headband guy was riding on a ball of air. But that might just be from heat exhaustion. I mean, how the heck would that be possible?"

The guy, Sokka I think, glares at Mr. Headband. "I told you it would blow our cover."

I blink. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. So…that actually happened? You can do that?"

Mr. Headband looked up to Sokka. "Actually, I think you just blew our cover."

Sokka scowls and looks at me. He then gathers his group of Mighty Ninja Samurai guys into a circle. I try to make out what they say.

"—could be Fire Nation-"

"No. He's got blue eyes. Maybe he's Water Tribe."

"He's got red! Red is Fire Nation."

"He's got Earth Kingdom feet."

"I can't really help with this description thing. Can we just knock him out and get it done with?"

"Hey!" I say. "I'm still here, you know!"

They all turn to me. The older girl in the dress walks up to me. She looks comforting, but also a little Vlad-comforting. As in, she talks sweet, but she can hurt you if she wants to. A lot.

"Are you from the Fire Nation?"

"What? No! I'm from Amity Park."

They all raise an eyebrow.

"You know the most haunted city in the United States of America?" I continue.

"United States of America?" black-haired girl repeats. "What's that, a colony in the Earth Kingdom?"

"No, it's a country!" I tell them. They still look clueless. "You've never heard of it?"

They all shake their heads.

"Oh, come on," I say. "It's, like, the most recognizable country in the world. We've got baseball and Taco Bell…" They're staring, wide-eyed.

Mr. Headband leans into the group. "Maybe he's crazy," he whispers.

"I am not crazy!" I defend. "I'm just lost."

"So you're not from the Fire Nation?" Sokka asks.

I nod. "Yes, I'm not from the Fire Nation."

He looks over to the black-haired girl. "Toph, is he telling the truth?"

The girl, Toph, nods. "Pretty sure. You made him a little nervous, but he's sounding sincere."

The other girl waves her hands and the ice melts away. I stretch, but then look up.

"How did you do that?" I ask.

"Do what?" she inquires.

"Make the ice melt," I tell her.

"I'm a waterbender," she explains simply, as if I'm asking her the weather outside.

"A waterwhat-er?" I repeat.

She raises an eyebrow. "A waterbender. You know, I'm able to bend water."

I shake my head. "I'm sorry; I have no idea what you're talking about."

She nods. "Maybe you've never seen it before. Here, let me demonstrate."

She starts breathing deeply before moving her hands near the pitcher on her belt. She guides her hand outward, and a stream of water follows it. She waves her hands again, making the water twist and obey her hands. She guides the stream back into her pitcher.

"See? That's waterbending."

My mouth is open in shock. How the hell could she do that?

"Are you a witch or something?" I ask her.

She looks a little offended. "No, I'm a _bender_, just like Toph and Aang." She gestures the second name to Mr. Headband.

I'm still confused. What with a bender? Isn't it a robot in that cartoon?

Toph rolls her eyes, which I notice are almost all-white if it weren't for her irises being a very light gray.

"I'm an earthbender," she says. She stomps her foot and a block of Earth launches out. She punches the block and it is catapulted into a tree. Sam would like her.

"And you already saw me airbend," Aang says.

I look over to Sokka. "What, can you control the sky or something?"

His eye twitches again. "No. I'm not a bender."

I sit down. "Okay…sorry. This whole 'bending' concept is kind of new to me," I say. "Where I come from we're all like him-" I point to Sokka. "—just normal, everyday people." _Some of which have ghost powers._

"A place without bending?" Aang realizes. "I don't think that's possible here. Especially with the Fire Nation conquering everybody."

I shake my head. "Look, can I see a map? I've got figure out how to get home before my teachers fails me."

Sokka, still looking confused, pulls out a scroll of paper. "Uh…here, weird kid."

"It's Danny," I correct. "And right now, I feel like I'm the only normal-" I stop myself. "Well, actually, never mind."

I unroll the paper. This isn't like any map I've ever seen.

"Hey, what's this map of?" I ask.

"The world," Sokka answers.

I look at it again. "That can't be right…where's England? And China? And Canada? Canada's huge!"

"What are you talking about?" brown-haired girl asks.

I look up. Everything's different here, which means…

"Damn it, Desiree!" I mutter.

"Excuse me?" Toph asks.

"Oh, nothing," I say. "It's just…my friend. She likes playing tricks on me and she sort of sent me here."

To an alternate universe.

This day just keeps getting better and better.

Aang looked around. "Well…since you seem to be confused and all, why don' you join us?"

"What?" Sokka exclaimed. "What if he's working for the Fire Lord?"

"I'm not working for the Fire Lord!" I say. I look over to Toph. "You can tell I'm not lying, right?"

"Well, yeah," she says in a 'no duh' voice. "Sokka, calm down. He's okay." She looks back over to me. "And he could be useful. I mean, you were around us for, what…five minutes? And I didn't even sense you."

"Yeah…how did you do that, anyway?"

"I sense the Earth's vibrations," she explains. "It's the only way I can see. I'm blind."

I go wide-eyed. "Whoa." I smile. "Cool."

Brown-haired girl smiles. "Okay, so you're in the group."

I get up and dust myself off. "So…how about introductions? Since I know nothing about this weird place…"

"Well, I'm Toph," Toph says. "And I like kicking butt."

I point to her. "I like you."

She grins evilly.

Brown-haired girl comes up to me and shakes my hand. "I'm Katara, and I'm a waterbender."

I nod. "Nice to meet you."

Sokka looks at me, frowning, and reluctantly puts out a hand to shake. "I'm Sokka. I'm Katara's brother, and the leader of this group."

"Oh joy," I mutter. "But at least there's someone here who's like me. You know, not doing all this bending stuff."

"Likewise."

Aang grins widely. "Hi, I'm Aang!" he says cheerfully. "And I'm an airbender."

"And the Avatar," Katara adds with a smirk.

Sokka glares at her. "You just want to throw our cover out the window, don't you?"

"He can be trusted!" Katara defends.

I clear my throat and raise my hand like I'm in class. "Um…what's the Avatar?"

Aang's smile fades a little. "Oh, well…I kind of have to master all four elements."

"Which are…?" Forgive me, this is all new to me.

"Air, Water, Earth," he lists, "and fire."

"But weren't you saying something about fire being bad?"

"The Fire Nation is bad," he explains. "They're leader's called the Fire Lord, and he's planning on taking over the world."

"Like I haven't heard that plan before," I mutter.

Aang raises an eyebrow. "What?"

I shake my head. "Nothing…so this Fire Guy is trying to take over the world, huh?"

"Yeah…and I have to stop him," he says.

I know that look. It's tired and full of exasperation. It's an expression you never want to see on a kid.

And I know it so well because I wear it every day.

"Well…I'm sure you'll be able to do that," I reassure him.

He smiles a little again. He points to the creature on his arm. "This is our lemur, Momo." He then jumps up and does and does a huge flip over to the white mammoth buffalo. "And this is Appa, our sky bison."

I look at the creature. "Dude…that thing had six legs."

"Yeah?" Aang asks. "And?"

I shake my head and turn to the other people in the group. Time for my intro. "I'm Danny, and I'm not from here. I can't bend." I blink. "And um…my favorite color is blue?"

I'll tell them about the ghost powers later. Obviously, they're still a little wary about me. Especially Sokka. Seeing me fly around and go invisible probably isn't the best idea.

"Danny? I've never heard that name before," Katara says.

"Well Katara isn't exactly a popular name where I come from either," I say.

"The place where you come from is weird," Toph comments.

I roll my eyes. "You have no idea."

Aang looks around. "So…yay! New member to Team Avatar!"

Oh look. Another team name.

Katara looks around. "We better get a move on I we want to get to that town for shelter and food. Come on, Danny."

She tugs on the giant sky bison as Aang jumps off of it, creating a cushion of air to lighten his fall. That is, until Toph sneak attacks him with a rock, sending him into the air. She snickers.

Dear God, what have I gotten myself into?

**#**

**Wa-la! Introductions and a very confused Danny.**

**I love reviews with the passion of a thousand suns…I mean review if you can *goes and hides in a corner*.**

**-ZG**


	3. Wise

**Hello guys! So I'm putting this here to say that I am now updating this story every Monday, while my other two will be every Friday. For me, it helps give distinction between my crossover and my regular DP fics.**

**Enjoy!**

**-ZG**

**#**

Katara explains what to do once we enter the village. There will be no mention of Aang being the Avatar, or the fact that none of them are firebenders. We are all simple, non-bending folk travelling to our aunt's house near the capital. We got our unusual names from our parents, who are eccentrics touring the colonies.

Jesus, these guys are better liars than me.

The group plans to go in to gather food and supplies while I stay back here with the huge bison-thing.

"What?" I ask when they tell this to me. "Why do I have to stay back? I thought I'm part of Team Avatar!"

"Yeah, but that's only because Aang here got a little too excited," Sokka points out. "Don't think we're going to let you in so easily. You can't just gain our trust."

"Oh, I see," I say. And I do. You think I'd let anybody know I'm half-ghost? No. And these people—benders, whatever—haven't told me everything either.

"Don't take it too harshly," Katara tells me. "It's just that we usually don't meet a lot of people who are exactly trustworthy."

"No, I get it," I say. "I'll stay back here with Papa-"

"It's Appa," Aang corrects.

"Okay, _Appa_," I restate. "And you guys can go get the stuff. Just don't take too long, okay?"

"We weren't planning to," Sokka says, glaring. Oh, I get it. He thinks I'm going to steal their five-ton pet.

They walk away and I look up to Appa, who's is mindlessly chewing on some sort of grain.

"So…what do you like to for fun?" I ask, trying to entertain myself.

He grunts.

I sigh. "That's nice."

I wonder how this universe is affecting my sanity…

**#**

Clockwork watches, not amused, at the multiple timelines and time streams flickering before his eyes. It used to be overwhelming when he first got the job, he remembers. He lost track of a couple time lines back when he started. The Observants were not happy with him. In fact, they still aren't.

Everything seems to be in check. He lets the screen flicker longer than necessary at the image of young Daniel; bored next to the creature the air nomad had named Appa.

There's a knock at the door, and Clockwork smiles.

"Come in, Old Friend," he says, turning around.

A large black and white owl enters the tower, shaking his feathers. His face, however, is stoic. Clockwork knows him to not have the greatest sense of humor, something he finds a little displeasing. But he is the only one who knows as much as the Master of Time does, at least in current news.

"It is very nice to see you, Clockwork," the owl greets. "I see that you have taken to your position quite well."

"Indeed I have," Clockwork responds. "I am no longer that stressed child I was a couple millennia ago."

"Why did you call me here?" the owl asks. "With the new twists in that infernal war my universe is having you know I am strapped for time."

"Wan Shi Tong," Clockwork calms. "This is about the fate of both of our universes. I would've easily been able to work on this new development myself, but you are more knowledgeable in your own time stream than I am in most." He switches from an old man to a young kid around the age of six.

"Ah, the innocence of youth," Wan Shi Tong muses.

Clockwork smirks. "As you know, I'm not exactly innocent."

"I currently have a strong estimation on what this problem is," the wise spirit tells the ghost. "But enlighten me, so that I can be sure."

Clockwork turns to his screen, images flashing. "As you know, there is a strong and tyrannical leader leading a war against the world," Clockwork says.

"Ah, yes," Wan Shi Tong replies. "War…" His neck starts to extend, the feathers on his head sharpening to points.

"Calm yourself, my friend," Clockwork says. The owl complies, turning himself back into a peaceful, emotionless stature. "And as you may have currently discovered, he plans to do more. Much more, in fact."

"I am very well aware," the owl says. "After all, it was one of his soldiers who entered so long ago. He stole very valuable information, both on the ways of Laa and Tui and the intricacies of the cosmos."

"Yes, and he used the knowledge of those spirits for himself," Clockwork continues. "But the cosmos, however, he sent to his Master." He turns away from the screen. "And that is where I can no longer see. The man is so unstable I cannot observe what he plans to do with such knowledge." He changes into a man. "You, however, must know. I have hunch, and even though the idea itself is unimaginable, I need confirmation."

Wan Shi Tong sighs. "As of now, he currently is trying to infiltrate the Spirit World, as we call it there."

"Funny, how humans fail to realize that such a large world is actually a fraction of an entire zone," Clockwork muses. His face turns serious. "But if he is planning to overtake the Spirit World, he can easily conquer other parts of the cosmos as well. It is what I feared."

"Have you any plan of action?" Wan Shi Tong asks.

Clockwork smiles. "Yes, actually, I do. I have sent a—well, you might say a _warrior_ from a favorite universe of mine to help the only one capable of stopping him. I believe he visited your library some time ago."

The owl begins to sharpen his features again. "Oh yes…them. They are planning on war, Clockwork. I advise against them."

"They are trying to _end_ the war, my friend," Clockwork says. "Though how they plan to do it is not very well thought out. But their intentions are good. You may be intelligent, but your time in isolation has stopped you from sympathizing."

The wise spirit glares. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" he asks.

"One last thing," Clockwork demands. "I must ask…do you believe this choice to be wise?"

Wan Shi Tong laughs. "You are returning to your old insecurities, aren't you?"

"Not so. I am simply asking, as you are more knowledgeable in this time stream than I am. Was my action wise?"

The owl nods. "Yes, even though I am against it. For the purposes you are endeavoring, your decision was indeed wise." He ruffles his feathers. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go before my helpers grow restless."

The creature takes off in a flash of black, leaving Clockwork alone. The ghost returns to the screen, resuming to the musing and guiding the intricacies of time once again.

**#**

Two hours later I hear footsteps as I play Pong on my cell phone. Other than games and light the thing is pretty much useless. There's not a single bar of service here. I flip the device shut and hop off of the sky bison, landing easily. I go into a defensive stance, scanning the area.

"Going-"

"Something wrong?" a voice asks behind me. I jump, losing my position and keeling over.

Toph is standing over me, laughing. "Gotcha!" she yells, pointing at me.

I scowl. "It's not funny," I say.

"To me it is," she points out, wiping a tear from her eye. "Wow. The last time I got someone that good was when I shot Sokka fifty feet up into the air."

I realize that the rest of the group is behind her. Sokka matches my scowl.

I stand up. "So what did you guys get in town?" I ask.

They all hold up the baskets they're carrying. I guess there's no "paper or plastic" in this place.

"Food…wood for a fire…some jewelry on sale…" Katara muses, searching through her basket. "Oh, and clothes. For you."

"Why? My stuff isn't too dirty." I point to my nearly spotless t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"No, but you'll stick out," Sokka points out. "And right now we kind of need to be inconspicuous."

"_I_ stick out?" I repeat. "You're the guys dressed up in ninja clothes!"

"What's a ninja?" Aang asks.

"It's a—oh, never mind," I dismiss. Getting to these people is going to be impossible. "Hand me the clothes. I'll go find a nice…tree to go try them on."

Aang fishes out a bundle of fabric from his basket. "Here you go," he says cheerfully.

I venture off into the woods so that no one can see me. I put on the clothes—they're very itchy—and look over myself. I've got on those poofy pants, the tight boots, the dress-thingy, and a belt to tie around my waist. Oh, and it's all red. I'm guessing these people can a thing for monochrome over here.

I come back, holding my street clothes in my hands.

"There," I say. "You guys happy now?"

"Not happy," Sokka says. "But I'm pleased."

"You're never happy, are you?" I ask.

He glares. "So…what should we do with your weird outfit?"

"Let's keep it as an extra," Aang says. "You know, in case Appa gets the stomach flu again."

Everyone else goes green.

"Uh…okay," I agree. I throw my stuff up onto the saddle strapped to the large white thing. I dust my hands off. "So what are we going to do now?"

"We usually find a place to camp," Aang explains. "And then we leave in the morning. We were going to try the town, but all the inns are full."

"Okay, so we just settle down here?" I ask.

Aang drops his stuff. "Yep." He pulls out some food. "Now let's make some dinner!"

My stomach growls. "Amen to that."

They all look at me funny.

"It's a phrase where I'm from," I explain.

They set up the fire and start roasting some fish over it. Aang mashes up some lettuce and starts eating.

"Won't you get too full for the fish?" I ask him.

He looks up, lettuce in his mouths. "No," he says through the food. He swallows. "I don't eat meat, or fish."

I laugh. "My friend would like you. She's Ultra-Recylco Vegetarian."

"What's that mean?" Aang asks.

"She doesn't eat anything that has a face," I explain.

"That's a little strange," Sokka says.

"Yeah, well, she likes being unusual," I tell them.

There's a silence. The fish finishes cooking the rest of the group each gets a portion. I practically inhale my piece, seeing as I haven't eaten in 15 or so hours.

While in the process of inhaling, Toph taps on my shoulder.

"Hey, weird guy," she says. Everyone else is busy eating, talking to each other, or sharpening their weapons.

I look at here. "I'm not weird," I protest. "And I have a name, you know."

"Okay, Danny, whatever," she says dismissively. "Where'd you learn that fighting stance from? I'm never seen anything like it. Or…felt, really."

"From…personal experience," I say. She can tell when I'm lying, so why not give generalizations? It's not lying, it's just obscuring.

"What type of bending did you base it off of?" she asks.

"No type of bending," I answer. "I just learned from myself. Let's just say I got into some trouble back where I'm from."

"Oh yeah, Calamity Park or something in the Unison States of Wherever," she remembers.

"It's the _United_ States of _America_," I correct. "And it's _Amity_ Park. Though calling it a calamity is kind of an understatement."

"So are you some kind of criminal?" she asks.

"What? No!"

I look around and realize I've raised my voice a little too high. Everyone is staring.

"_Are_ you a criminal?" Katara asks skeptically.

"No," I defend. "I just went through a lot of misunderstandings and people started thinking I was. Not to mention, like you guys, I have a couple enemies myself."

Aang blinks. "You want to talk about it?"

I shake my head. "No thank you. I think it'd be too weird for you guys."

"I've met a person who steals people's faces," Aang says.

"I once got captured by a swamp," Katara adds.

"I'm friends with badgermoles," Toph points out.

"My girlfriend became the moon," Sokka finishes.

"Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be too weird," I say. I turn to Sokka. "And that's harsh, dude."

"I've come to terms with it," Sokka says. "But still, you haven't told us anything about you. How do we know you're trustworthy?"

"I…" I can't figure out anything to say. "I come from a faraway place, and I fought bad things there. And now I'm here because of one of those…bad things." I sigh. "That's all I can really say."

Wow, that's a lot more than I should've said.

"Can't you tell us anything more?" Katara asks.

I shake my head. "I will…maybe. Later on. It's just that I've met people who wouldn't accept me."

Aang nods. "I understand. We're here if you want to talk."

I smile. "Good."

**#**

**I'm sorry if this is below-par. I've got a whole thing set up. Next chapter we're going to start following the Avatar timeline, starting with "The Painted Lady".**

**Review, if you can. I really appreciate it.**

**Did I confuse you guys with the whole Clockwork-Wan Shi Tong exchange? Or did it make enough sense to you?**

**See you all next Monday!**

**-ZG**


	4. The Painted Lady, Part 1

**Hey, guys! Jeepers, this took me a long time to write. I decided in the en to split this up into two parts, as I will with every episode to give good enough timing. Besides, writing a whole thirty page chapter in a little daunting, but two fifteen-page ones is a little less scary to me.**

**So…enjoy!**

**#**

After dinner, Sokka says that we should get a move on, saying that we don't have much time. I don't see any danger, but he insists that we start moving. Aang suggests that we fly Appa (dude, the thing can fly? Oh yeah, _flying_ bison. Duh), but Sokka refuses, saying it would blow our cover, even if he did bend a disguise.

We walk for a good hour or two, tired and really just wanting to pass out, before we find a river. With my night vision I can see that it's green and odd-looking.

"Okay, everybody, hop in!" Sokka says.

Katara leads Appa into the water, the ten-ton furball hopping in and splashing all of us.

"Yuck," I comment.

Aang looks at me strangely. "What? It's just water."

"Do you see how disgusting this looks?" I ask him. "I mean, look at the river!"

He looks at me strangely. "I can't," he comments. "It's too dark. How can _you_ look at the river?"

"I—uh…um," I stutter. "My eyes must've been playing a trick on me. Sorry."

Everyone jumps onto Appa with ease. I, on the other hand, struggle and grasp his fur, dangling over the gross river.

This would be much easier if I could just fly.

I feel a hand grab my wrist and pull me up, making my body seize as I'm thrown into the air and onto the leather saddle.

Toph is laughing.

"I didn't know you were that strong," I comment.

"It's no problem," she says, waving her hand. "Besides, you're really light."

I frown. "Oh."

"Better get some sleep while you can," Sokka says to all of us. "We have a schedule to keep to."

I roll my eyes, but at least I can continue to sleep without being disturbed by ghosts. It's really the only bright side to being here.

I curl up in my spot and close my eyes. I easily drift off to sleep.

_Fire is burning everything to the ground…_

_This is worse than Pariah, because it's not just a town. It's the whole world, turning to ashes before my eyes._

_He's pure evil, more evil than I've ever known. And as the world burns, I see it. The swirling mixture of green in the middle of the sky. It's huge, bigger than I've ever seen._

_It's engulfing everything. And he's laughing. He's victorious._

"_Now everything," he says. "Is mine."_

"Danny!" someone calls. "Danny, wake up!" Mom has a habit of waking me up during the weekends, usually for a demonstration of a new machine or something.

"Mom, it's a Saturday," I whine, not opening my eyes. "I can see the new ecto-gun at lunch, just give five more minutes."

"Ecto-gun?" the person repeats. Wait, that isn't my Mom's voice…

I open my eyes to see Katara hovering over me, concerned.

Great. I'm still here.

"Oh…hey," I say, blinking and sitting up. I yawn. "What time is it?"

"It's just after dawn," she answers.

"What?" They're waking up _this_ early?

"Yeah, we've got to start moving," she answers.

"Start moving? At _dawn_?" I curl back up into a ball and close my eyes. "Screw that, I'm going back to sleep."

"Come on, Danny," Aang says. I open my eyes a little to see him. He's standing, peppy as ever, in his basic clothing. All the sleeves and stuff is gone. Now he's in his poofy pants. I notice some blue markings that run down his arms and end on the back of his hands in arrows. His headband is gone, too, revealing a large arrow on his forehead. Momo is sitting on his shoulder. "We better get ourselves clean before we start walking again."

He rockets off of the saddle in funnel of air, splashing into the water. Momo flies above him.

"Momo!" he calls. He dives into the water again. "Momo, come find me!"

The creature lands on his head and he laughs. He looks at the water, frowning, and catapults himself back onto the saddle. He's covered in greenish-brown muck that's semi solid.

"Hey, I think this river is polluted," Aang says, observing the goo that's dripping from his arm.

I think back to yesterday and my comment on the water.

"Oh," I say, my voice covered in sarcasm. "You think?"

He shakes his head and uses his bending-magic-stuff to remove the muck. It lands on us. Some of the muck on my nose slides into my mouth.

"Gross!" I exclaim, trying to spit it out. "This tastes worse than Dash's underwear!"

"Bleck!" Toph comments.

Aang smiles sheepishly and bends the mud off of us.

"Well that explains why I can't catch any fish around here," Sokka says. He's got our back to us, reeling up a fishing pole. "Because usually, my fishing skills are o_ff the hook_!" He holds us a fishing hook. "Get it? Like a fishing hook?"

Everyone frowns.

"Dude," I say. "Work on your puns. Seriously."

Toph smirks. "Too bad you're skills aren't _on_ the hook."

She's actually kind of funny. I laugh along with everyone else as Sokka scowls.

Katara holds up a thick scroll of paper. "It looks like we're going to have to find food somewhere else." She unrolls the scroll, revealing a long, detailed document in a language I can't understand. "That is, if it'll fit into Sokka's 'master schedule'."

Sokka puts the fishing rod down and picks up a section of the paper, examining it. "Hmmm…it's doable. But that means only two bathroom breaks today, people."

Aang turns his attention to something else. "Hey, maybe we can get food over there!" He points to something ahead.

I focus on where he's pointing. It looks like a small settlement on the river, made of various platforms buildings.

We park ourselves a little ways inland from the river, away from all the muck. Aang covers Appa and Mom is patches of moss.

"There," he says. "Now you just look like a small hill with horns."

I laugh. "Nice disguise," I say.

Aang shrugs. "It's the best we can do. It's not like we can turn them invisible."

I'm about to say that I actually can when I shut my mouth. "Uh, yeah," I say instead. "Right." I gulp. "So let's go!"

We trek down to the coast, where I see the village. Bamboo dowels and string hold the platforms together as the river slowly trudges below them. Small houses and stands are scattered everywhere. It's almost silent.

"I don't feel anything," Toph says. "Where's this place that we can get food?"

"There's a village in the middle of the river," Aang explains.

I turn to Toph. "I thought you could use earthbending to see."

"I can," she says. "But this is out in the water, not connected to Earth at all. I'm pretty much as blind as I would be without my earthbending."

"So how are we going to get to it?" Sokka asks.

"I think I can help!" a voice says below us. I look down. An old man in a funny red hat and a vest that is _way_ too small for him is waving at us from his boat. He stops waving. "The name's Doc. Mind if I ask where you're from?"

"Oh, we're, uh, from the Earth Kingdom colonies," Katara answers with a smile.

I lean over to Sokka. "I thought we were journeying to our grandma in the capital," I whisper.

"Shhh!" he shushes.

"Wow," Doc says. "Colonials! Hop in; I'll give a ride into town."

We slide down the hill and into the boat. Doc sets off, dragging a long pole through the sludge.

"So…why do you live on the river?" Katara asks. She looks at the water in distaste.

"Because we're a fishing town!" Doc answers. He sighs. "At least, we were before the factory moved in." He points the pole to said factory.

It's large, black, and metal. It digs into the hill and even from here I can see the smoke coming out of top. Funnels at the bottom are exerting something very similar to the muck in the river.

"Army makes their metal there," Doc continues. "Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive."

We near the village, and I can see what he meant by 'struggling to survive'. The whole place is somber and sad-looking. It almost looks deserted.

We hop off of the boat.

"Thanks for the ride!" Aang says, waving and smiling. Doc reciprocates and starts moving his boat down the side of the village.

As we walk further into the village, we start seeing actual people. The whole place is still giving off a sad vibe, though. Children are looking mournfully over the dock, other people are lying down and looking like they're slowly fading away. My dumb hero complex starts kicking in, saying that I should start helping these people.

"Wow," I say. "Look at this place."

Katara nods, agreeing. "It's so sad." She turns to Sokka. "We have to do something to help."

Sokka shakes his head. "No, we can't waste our time here."

"Okay, dude," I say. "Do you not see how bad they have it here? I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be wasting our time."

He scowls. "We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on," he explains. "These people are on their own."

Okay, now Katara's mad. I've seen her slightly offended, maybe even annoyed, but never mad. From the whole day or so I've known her she just seemed nice and caring.

But her face is turning an unnatural shade of red. "_These people are starving_!" she points out. "But you turn your back to them? How can you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic," he says. "We can't just go around helping every run-down village we walk into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord-"

Toph places a hand on Sokka's mouth. "Hey, loud mouth," she seethes. "Maybe we could be a little bit quieter when talking about 'taking out the Fire Lord'."

She releases her hand from his mouth.

"Okay, I'm plenty realistic," I say. "But even then I don't think we should leave these people to die."

He rolls his eyes. "You, too?" He then sighs. "Come on, guys, be reasonable. You know the mission has to come first."

"I would if I knew the mission," I mutter. Honestly, they keep talking about an eclipse and the Fire Lord and a really long war, but I have no idea what they're talking about. It's like they're speaking Russian sometimes.

Katara looks down, defeated. "I guess so," she says reluctantly. She glares, annoyed.

Aang, meanwhile, has been the poor kid witnessing all of this. "Let's just get what we need and go," he says. He smiles at Katara, trying to cheer her up, but she continues to frown. He looks downtrodden.

We walk around until we find what looks like an outdoor shopping stand. Doc is standing there, but now he's in a yellow hat somewhat resembling Santa Claus if Santa liked yellow.

"Hey, Doc!" Sokka greets. "You work here, too?"

Doc smiles. "I'm not Doc. I'm Xu!" He pronounces it like "shoe".

We look at each other, seeing if we buy it.

"But we just saw you," Aang points out. "You're even wearing the same clothes. The only difference is your hat."

"Doc works on the dock, that's why we call him 'Doc'," the man apparently named Xu explains. "I work in the shop, and that's why they call me 'Xu'!"

"That makes no sense," I comment.

Aang nods, agreeing. "I don't get it."

"Me neither!" Xu exclaims. He's even crazier than Vlad…and that's a hard record to beat. He jumps behind the stand counter and pulls out a box of rancid-looking sea life that smells like my dad's socks. "What can I getcha?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa. _That's_ our choice in food? I'd rather starve.

"Hey, I'll give you a special deal," Doc says. "If you buy three fish, I'll throw in one clam free!"

Sokka examines one clams in the box, poking his finger and pressing down on it. Gunk squirts out.

Aang flails his arms, retreating back. "Ew!"

Katara mirrors his actions. "Gross!"

I smirk. "Lovebirds," I mutter.

Katara glares at me while Aang smiles sheepishly, turning a bright shade of crimson.

Huh. This feels pretty good when you're not the one blushing.

Sokka picks up three fish, and I swear I can see stink lines. "We'll just take the fish." Xu smiles and takes the fish from hi, wrapping them up. "Oh, and mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?"

Xu nods and dives back under the counter again, returning with Doc's red hat. "Hello, colonials!" he says. "My brother says you need a lift."

Okay, this universe is getting way too weird.

We follow him anyway. Don't want to anger a crazy person, you know? We're halfway to the docks when I realize that Katara isn't with us. I turn around to see her giving one of our fishes a small boy, who then runs up to a woman—probably his mother—who looks to be very weak. He hands the fish to her.

Katara catches up with us, and I pretend that I haven't seen a thing.

**#**

I sit back as everyone else is working. It's a weird feeling, being the person in the background for once. I also think this is the longest time in a while that I haven't fought a ghost.

This whole "bending" trick is pretty cool. Aang lifts up a bucket full of river water slowly moving his arms around to keep it in place, as Toph extracts all the gunk. The crystal clear water is then passed onto Katara, who guides the liquid into a pot, steam rising up everywhere.

Sokka continues to look at his scroll. "Our detour in town today has completely thrown off our schedule. It's going to take some serious finagling to get us back on track."

Toph rolls his eyes. "Finagle away, oh schedule master," she says.

Sokka looks at her, but returns to the paper. "Well, for starters, we're going to have to wake up forty-three minutes earlier than usual."

"Oh, come on!" I say. "I can barely survive getting up at dawn."

"You still aren't fully on our team," Sokka points out. "Therefore, you don't get input."

I stick my tongue. Yes, call me immature, but he started it!

"_Forty-three minutes_?" Katara repeats, totally shocked.

"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse…" And here we meet a bunch of words that hold no meaning to me. It's like they expect me to know this stuff.

"Well, _I'm_ not waking up that early," Toph says.

I raise my hand. "I agree to the furthest extent." Sokka glares at me. "What? I'm just agreeing with her. _She's_ the one in the team, not me."

He returns to that scroll again. "Or we could just cut out all our eating breaks."

All hell breaks loose.

"What?"

"No way!"

"Forget it!"

"Seriously?"

Sokka grins. "Oh, I got it! What if we take our eating breaks and our potty breaks _at the same time_?"

I didn't catch Aang drinking anything, but the guy does a spit take. We all recoil in disgust.

"Ew!" the girls say.

"That is messed up beyond belief," I tell him.

He puts his hands up in surrender. "Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

After a couple more schedule debates and disgusting fish, we finally settle down to sleep. I lay myself on a nice soft patch of moss, trying to fall asleep, but my hero complex is nagging me endlessly.

I have to help those people before we leave. It's just not right to leave them like this.

I wait until I hear snoring and stand up, tip-toeing over to the rocks and shivering. It's surprising cold at night.

I maneuver past a couple branches, scraping myself pretty bad on the arm against one of them. Oh well. It'll heal in the next hour or so anyway.

Hiding behind one of the rocks, I let a shiver run down my back. The blue rings of light form and pass my body. I look down to see a black and white jumpsuit with the famous DP logo on my chest.

At least I can still be Danny Phantom here.

I fly up into the air, heading towards the village and landing on one of the many platforms.

"Now," I say to myself. "What to do…"

I look around, trying to find something to help these people. I can't exactly heal people and I have medicine around with me. They're starving…maybe I could go fishing.

I smirk and dive into the water, turning intangible. Now I don't have the feel all that guck around me.

I can already see a couple of fish swimmingly idly in the water. They're weird-looking, like the rest of the animals here in this messed-up universe. They have glassy, pupil-less eyes and two heads.

I start up a small ectoplasmic shield, trying to manipulate it. Vlad can make fly swatters and glass panes, so why can't I do the same?

It takes some concentration, but I finally begin the workings of a small net. Concentrating a little more, I expand it so that's the size of a king size bed. I make my hands tangible and grab either side of the glowing green net.

It's fishing season.

I rocket myself through the water, angling my transparent body towards every fish in sight. They go into the net not knowing what hit them.

I do this for a good half an hour when the net is becoming especially heavy, even for my super strength. I fly out of the water and make myself tangible, cleaning off the muck on my hands. The net is filled to the top with squirming fish.

I start off on the side of the village farthest away from the docks and the factory. Phasing through the door I look at the family before me. A mother and father, both looking half-dead, are holding a small child close. Even in their sleep they look restless and gaunt. I set a few fish on the ground before them and leave.

I do this for every house, trying to be as quiet as I can manage.

Almost finished, I place a dozen fish on the floor of a family of five's home. They've got a mom and four kids, with no dad in sight. He's probably fighting that war that's going on right now.

I so close to the door when I hear something rustle. I whip around.

One of the two smaller children, a girl, is staring at me. But then again, who wouldn't be staring a floating white-haired kid in a jumpsuit? It's not an everyday occurrence in most places.

"Who are you?" she asks, rubbing her eyes. "And what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help," I answer. "I'm just trying to make things better. Now go back to sleep."

The girl smiles. "Oh…thank you. You and the lady in the hat are nice people."

"Lady in the hat?" I repeat.

She nods and yawns. "Yup. She was here a little bit ago. She made my chest feel better." She lies back down. "Goodnight, strange boy."

I exit the house. So there's another person trying to help people? Maybe I should try and contact them…but then again, they might be scared beyond belief if they saw me. And I can't just approach them as Fenton, what if a glowing green net and everything. Questions will still be asked, and I can't answer all of them.

I continue walking to the next house when I hear something move behind me. I turn around in time to see a shadow dart out of the corner of my eye.

"Who's there?" I ask.

Silence.

"I'm serious," I say.

Why is it suddenly foggy here? That wasn't there a minute ago…

Something moves again, to my left. I turn to that direction, and see nothing.

"Stop playing with me," I demand. "Show yourself."

I turn to my left when I realize I have a shrouded face inches away from me.

I suppress a yell, so that people can keep sleeping. Instead, I fall flat on my butt.

"I've done as you said," the figure says. It's a girl, and she had a large hat and a loose, draped dress. Her voice is raspy, but somewhat recognizable. Where have I heard it before? "Now can I ask you what you're doing in other people's homes?"

I hold up the glowing green net, which still contains a couple more fish. "Just delivering food," I answer. "I'm only trying to help people." Huh, that's a nice hat… "And something tells me you're trying to do the same thing."

Even though I can't see her face, her head angles downward. She looks back up without revealing her profile. "Who told you that?"

I shrug and stand up. "Rumors spread fast."

She shakes her head. "I would suggest that you go. I have everything handled here."

"I can't. These people need help, and I'm just doing the best I can."

"Feeding them won't solve everything," she points out. "They'll still be sick if you feed them. That's why they need me."

"What can you do?" I ask.

Her whole being just gives off the impression of a smirk. She raises a hand covered in some sort of liquid and places it on my scraped arm.

It's cold, so I wince. But the coldness is replaced with warmth, and she removes her hand. The scrape is gone.

"That," she answers.

"You're a healer?" I realize. "Wow. That's pretty cool."

"So you see my point. I have everything solved here. You can go."

God, she is being stubborn…My face brightens at an idea. "Hey, how about we work together?"

"What?" she asks.

"I feed while you heal. It'll get things done faster. I can't stay for long, anyways."

She's silent for a couple moments. "Fine."

We go through a few more houses, working at a harmonious pace. Being as silent as possible, we quickly heal and feed the poor families living there. We've gone through about five or six homes together when she says we need to stop for the night.

"What?" I ask. "We haven't even covered the whole village!"

"Shh!" she hushes. "I'm getting tired. We can continue this tomorrow night."

"That's the problem," I say. "I won't be here tomorrow. I'm…not the kind of person who stays in one place for long."

She sighs. "I get it. But…it was nice for you to help me."

"It was no problem," I say. "I have this psychological need to help people. Or so my sister says. I really can't help it."

"Mind if I ask for your name before you leave?" she asks.

"Uh…Phantom. Just call me Phantom. And you are?"

"It's not very important," she tells me.

"Now, hold on-" I start. After all, she gets my name but I don't get hers? That's not fair, not in the least bit.

But she leaps off of the platforms and disappears into the mist (rather dramatically, too) before I can finish. She's gone.

I dump the rest of the fish over at Doc/Xu's place and leave.

I change back once I get to the campsite, and see that everyone is sleeping and oblivious to what I've done.

**#**

**Part 2 will be posted soon, if not a couple hours. I wrote this piece as a whole and need to do some tweaking.**

**See you then!**

**-ZG**


	5. The Painted Lady, Part 2

**Ta-Da! Part 2, ladies and gentlemen.**

**#**

I wished to come here for some sleep, yet somehow I'm not getting any today.

After three hours of resting I'm woken up my Toph, who decides to be funny and launch me into the air again.

I stand up and brush myself off. "Thanks for the peaceful wake up call," I tell her.

She shrugs and smiles. "What can I say? I do my best."

"So where are we heading now?" I ask.

"Back to the village," she answers. "Appa's sick. He's got a purple tongue and everything."

I cringe. "That doesn't sound good."

"That's why we're going to go grab some medicine," she explains. She launches me into the air again. "Come on, slowpoke."

I land on the ground. "I would," I say, "if you didn't keep trying to _break my back_!"

She laughs.

We catch a ride from Dock and make our way to Xu's stand. The somber image of the village has drastically changed. Children are laughing and playing. Parents are looking on, smiling.

I can't help but smile. After all, this is pretty good handiwork that me and the other girl accomplished. By the way…who was she? I could barely see anything other than her mouth.

"Is it just me, or does this place seem happier?" Toph asks.

"Yeah…are the people _happier_?" Aang adds.

We pass by a couple more happy children before approaching Xu's food shack. The crazy man is standing idly, waving at us.

"Hey, Xu," Sokka says, walking ahead of everybody. "What's going on with everyone today?"

"Ah, something wonderful happened last night," Xu says, smiling. "Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person…the Painted Lady."

I'm _not_ painted. Or a lady.

He pulls out a small wooden statuette, and I immediately recognize it as the girl from last night. Big hat, draped dress…everything. I don't recognize the markings, though. Then again, it was pretty foggy…

"The Painted who now?" Katara repeats, a little stunned.

"The Painted Lady," Xu reiterates (wow, big word for me). "She's part of our town's lore. It's said that she's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend. Until now."

Huh…interesting.

"A—Are you sure it was just her?" I ask. "After all, it seems like a lot of food…are you sure she didn't have an assistant or something?"

Xu looks at me funny. "The spirits can do anything. Besides, I haven't heard about an assistant."

"Yeah, spirits are fine on their own," Aang points out.

Sokka, meanwhile, is drowning in a vat of 'I told you so'. "See?" he says. "These people don't need help. They've already got someone." He turns back to Xu. "We just need some medicine for our sick friend."

"Medicine?" Xu asks, saying the word like he's never heard it before. "I'm sorry, we don't have any. All the medicine is shipped over to the factories. That's why we have so many sick people here, or used to. The Painted Lady was able to heal a few, I heard."

Katara sighs. "It looks like we'll have to stay another night so that Appa can rest."

Good. Then I can get to the bottom with this Painted Lady person…

Sokka sighs. "I guess." He looks up. "Hey, Xu, you got some food to sell?"

"Do I ever!" he says, pulling out another box full of disgusting fish. At least it's more than he had yesterday. He holds up two very different and very odd types of sea life. "One headed fish or two-headed fish?"

Sokka ponders this. "Hmmm…two-headed!" He snatches the mutant fish from the shopkeeper's hand.

Gross. I grimace, as does everybody else.

Sokka looks at us, dumbfounded. "What? You get more for your money that way."

**#**

We arrive back at the campsite, but a question is bugging me the whole time. While we're eating that horrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Fish, I decide to ask it. Maybe I'll get some answers for once.

I reluctantly swallow some of the fish. "Hey," I say. "Can I ask you guys a question?"

Aang shrugs. "Sure. What is it?"

"Xu said something about the Painted Lady being a river spirit," I recall. "What is a spirit, exactly?"

They all go wide-eyed.

"You mean you don't know?" Sokka asks.

I shake my head, then stop myself. "Well…sort of. Back where I'm from, spirit was another word for ghost, or the soul of a dead person."

"Well, it can be that," Katara answers. "But…huh. It's kind of hard to explain."

"Yeah," Toph agrees. "We've sort of lived our whole lives knowing about spirits. They're as common as bending."

"I see that," I tell them. "But _I_ haven't. I didn't grow up around this stuff. It's…" I was about to say 'weird', but I didn't want to offend them. "It's different…where I'm from."

"We kind of already knew that," Sokka says. "But, to answer your question, a spirit is kind of like a manifestation of something. They all kind of have a role to play."

Aang nods. "Hei Bai protects the forests, Wan Shi Tong protects knowledge, and Tui and Laa help each other with the whole moon and ocean thingy."

"So…they've all got their own theme?" I guess.

Aang nods. "Sort of. But you don't have to worry about a lot of them. Most are in the Spirit World."

"Spirit World?"

"It's where all the spirits are from," Aang answers. "And it's really weird. You can't bend, everything is backwards, and nothing makes sense."

Sort of sounds like the Ghost Zone. So that means…

"Can you travel there?" I ask. "You know, using a portal or something?"

Aang raises an eyebrow. "Portal? No, you have to meditate. And only the Avatar can connect to it. But spirits can pass into our world during the Winter Solstice."

And it's summer. So that plan is out of the way.

"Are there any other spirits I should be aware of?" I inquire.

"Well, Koh's pretty nasty," Aang admits. He looks at me. "He steals your face if you show any emotion. Uh…there's the Painted Lady." His face brightens. "Oh! And me…kind of."

"WHAT?!" I exclaim. If spirits were like ghosts, then why didn't my ghost sense go off any time I was around him?

Katara shrugs. "Yeah. The Avatar is a spirit that manifests itself in a human body and reincarnates itself when their body dies."

"There's—what—a million people in the world?" I estimate. "How does it choose its next person…reincarnation-thing?"

"It goes in a cycle," Toph says. "For each type of bending. Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. How it chooses which exact person, I don't know."

I look over to Aang. "What?" Aang asks. "I don't know everything about me."

"So…you're sort of half-spirit?" I ask.

"You could say that," he admits. He yawns. "We better get to sleep soon." He stands up and pats Appa. "Get better, buddy."

Everyone disperses and goes to sleep. That is, except for me. I lie down for a good five minutes before getting up. It's easy to sneak past them, seeing the whole "floating and invisible" thing that comes with being half a ghost.

I change behind the rocks again and zoom into the village.

I wait for ten minutes. No Painted Lady.

I go fishing again and reemerge from the water. No Painted Lady.

I decide to do my rounds with the houses. It's much faster and easier since I have a good idea of the average household. I go through every house, deciding to fly now to get everything done. After all, we'll be leaving tomorrow, for sure. I need to get to those families I wasn't help to help last night.

And through it all, still no Painted Lady.

What, has she decided that I'm fine on my own? I like the sentiment, but there are sick people here who need her!

I'm making my last stop: the sick ward. Judging from yesterday, there's a lot of people in there. I just hope I have enough…

I stop as someone exits the building. I recognize them. They've got a veil now and red marks on their shoulders…but it's her.

Someone follows after her. A small boy.

"Thank you, Painted Lady," he says, and then he runs back inside.

She disappears off into the water.

Huh. I guess she _has_ been helping, then.

I decide to follow her. She's racing across the water, fog covering everything. But I can still see her as a bullet being shot over the lake.

She lands on the shore and I meet up with her. She puts her hands on her hat, like she's about to take it off.

"Hey," I say, floating down to the ground.

She lets go of her grip on the hat. She turns around to me, showing her face a little more than yesterday. But it's still hard to see behind this fog and the veil she's acquired.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, voice raspy.

"It turns I'm staying here longer than I thought," I tell her. "And I figured out why you didn't want to tell me your name last night."

She looks shocked. "What? Why?"

"You're a ghost," I answer. "Or a 'spirit', I guess."

"Uhh…you are correct!" she stumbles.

I smile and wave my hand dismissively. "It's okay," I say. "I understand."

"You do?" she asks, her voice changing for a second. She clears her throat. "I mean…you do?"

"Yeah," I say. "I mean, I'm one. Well sort of. Kind of."

"Oh really," she asks. She looks slightly agitated, like she's in a hurry.

But I continue. "Yeah. I'm a spirit…or a ghost. That's what they call me."

She stiffens. "Prove it."

I easily lift myself off the ground. "If you want me to go invisible and intangible, you'll have to pay extra," I joke.

"I see…and why are you telling me this?" she asks.

I turn upside down, bored. "I need to find a way back home. I'm not from here. I'm kind of from a different universe, really. And I was wondering if you point me to the nearest portal—or entrance or gateway or whatever—to the Ghost Zone. No, you guys call it the Spirit World, don't you?" I shake my head. "Anyways, if you point me to one of those entrances, I'd be really grateful." I stop. "Then again, you haven't tried attacking me yet. So I'm already grateful for that."

"Why would I attack you?"

I laugh. "Please. I told you my name. You've got to recognize it from Spirit World buddies."

"I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I haven't heard of you."

My face falls. "Huh. You must've been away for a while. I'm like Public Enemy #1 over there."

She takes a step back.

Crap. I turn right side up. "Oh, no! I'm not dangerous or anything…I help people. That's kind of why most ghosts hate me."

"I don't hate you," she says. "I find it very nice that you're helping people."

I smile. "Thanks. It's not every day a ghost—spirit…sorry. I'm still getting used to saying that. But, it's not every day that a spirit doesn't hate the famous halfa Danny Phantom."

"Did you say that you're name was Danny?" she asks, suddenly very intrigued.

Maybe I've said too much. "Uh…no. I said…manly. I'm a manly…Phantom?"

I can see a bit of smile through the veil. "Well, can assure you that I do not, and I will never, hate you. Helping people is a good thing." She pauses. "I better go."

"Back to where?" I ask.

But she's already gone.

**#**

We reenter town the next day. Doc, as it is referenced by the red hat, is polishing the Painted Lady figure.

"Hey Doc," Sokka says. "Is Xu around?"

"I'll check!" Doc says. He exits the shop and runs around the corner.

I look over to Sokka. "You know the guy is crazy, right?"

He shrugs. "It's better to play along."

Doc comes back in his yellow hat, so now he's Xu. God, this can be confusing. "Here there!" he says. "Back again, are ya?"

Sokka is about to speak when Toph pushes through him and slams some money onto the counter. "We need more food," she says simply. "Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better."

Xu pulls out a box full of clams. Good. He found my gift.

Sokka examines the clams meticulously. The last time I've seen someone so concentrated on food was Tucker at the annual hotdog eating contest at the county fair.

"Oh, well that's too bad," Xu sighs. "Maybe if you're lucky, the Painted Lady will come visit and heal your sick friend."

Sokka smirks. "And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack, and we'll all have a sing-along," he says sarcastically. He holds up two of the clams.

Xu continues smiling, obviously not getting wind of the sarcasm. "Yeah, maybe! You know, last night she healed most of the sick folks _and_ brought more food."

You could the vein pulsating from my forehead. I at least deserve some credit! She can't just hog up all of the glory…

Aang looks over to the town square. "Is that why this place seems so festive?"

A couple villagers raise up a bigger version of Doc/Xu's figurine of the Painted Lady. No sign of a white-haired male statue in a jumpsuit.

"Yep," Xu says. "It's all because of the Painted Lady."

"And Danny Phantom," I mutter. No one hears me.

"Can believe how much an entire community can be affected by one lady—I mean…spirit?" That's a curious slip-up. It almost seems like one that I'd make.

Sokka looks unfazed. "Well, I hope she returns every night. Otherwise, this place will go back to the way it was."

He's right. Damn it, he's right.

"How could you say that? Look at how happy these people are now," Katara points out.

"Yeah, right now," Sokka says. "But if she leaves they won't be able to fend for themselves. If she really wanted to help, she'd blow up that factory with her spirit magic. You know…wooooOOOOWWWWoooo...Pchuuu!" He does this with very wriggly arm motions.

"Spirit magic doesn't work that way, Sokka," Aang scolds. He smiles. "It's more OOOOOwoooooo….Pchuuu!"

I shake my head. "No, guys. It's more BEWARE!" I joke. What? I need to get into this group if I'm going to be stuck here for all eternity, which is what it's looking like.

We all have a laughing fit.

Katara scowls at us and storms off.

**#**

I sneak out to the village that night, waiting for the Painted Lady before I start working. She left me with too many questions that need to be answered.

I hang out over at the docks, doing a couple tricks in the air and trying to be as quiet as possible. What Sokka said keeps bugging me.

"_If she really wanted to help, she'd blow up that factory…"_

It seems to be the root of all the suffering over here. The lack of medicine, the polluted water, the poverty…all of it. And if it were suddenly gone, all the problems would be, too.

Now, I'm never the kind of guy that would actually harm another person. Only the dead, really. But the idea of destroying the factory just seemed so ingenious and _simple_. Take out the factory and you take out the sadness.

I notice the fog beginning the wrap around the town. Good, she's finally coming.

She starts off as a dark spot in the distance, cutting through the fog. But she's arriving at a fast rate, faster than I've ever seen. It's almost as if she's running from somebody.

"Hey, wait!" a voice calls. It's not hers.

Oh crap. That means that she _is_ running from somebody.

"I know Hei Bai!" the voice proclaims. Aang? "We're close, personal friends!"

The Painted Lady jumps onto the dock, running past me. I turn invisible as a very recognizable boy in a headband rockets after her. He chases her, calling her out and trying to grab her attention. He jumps onto the roof and runs alongside her. After doing this for a good minute or two, he hits a pole. Oh, Aang. That's such a rookie move.

The Painted Lady finally stops after a while, thinking that she's safe. But she doesn't see Aang stand up after hitting the pole and blast himself off of the roof. He lands in front of her.

"My name's Aang," he says. He lifts his headband and points to the weird arrow on his forehead. "I'm the Avatar." Okay, so do all Avatars have weird arrow-thingies on their heads? Poor suckers.

"Well, hello Avatar," the Painted Lady says. She sounds nervous. "I wish I could talk, but I'm very busy."

Yeah, busy being late.

"Yeah, me too," Aang says. "I hate that." He tries to look under her veil. "You know, you're a really pretty spirit. I don't meet too many spirits, but the ones I do meet? Not very attractive."

Amen to that. *cough* Dora the Dragon *cough*.

She giggles nervously. "Thank you, but-"

Aang raises an eyebrow. "You look kind of familiar, too."

"A lot of people say that," she responds quickly. Sounds like something I would say…

He looks suspicious. "No, I mean you look _really_ familiar."

"Look," she says. "I really should get going." She tugs her hat and veil closer to her face and starts to run, but Aang blasts the hat off of her face.

Wait, I recognize that face.

"Katara?" he recognizes.

_Katara?_ I've been talking to Katara this whole time? Oh, I am in sludge deeper than the river right now.

She takes her hat off and turns around. "Hey, Aang," she says guiltily.

Still invisible, I swoop around to see the conversation from above.

"You're the Painted Lady? But how?"

"I wasn't her at first," she admits. "I was just trying to help the village. I guess I just kind of became her."

"So you've been sneaking out every night?" His face contorts to confusion. "Wait…is Appa even sick?"

"He might be sick of the purple berries I've been feeding him…" She smiles weakly. "But other than that he's fine!"

Aang shakes his head. "I can't believe you lied to everyone so that you could help these people…"

Okay, forgive me. But I sort of want to punch him right now. Helping people is pretty awesome in my book, no matter that you may have lied a little to do so. But I might be a little biased on that.

"I'm sorry," Katara apologizes. "I know I shouldn't have…"

Aang smiles. "No, I think it's great! You're like a secret hero!"

So the need to punch him is gone. And if he likes Katara's secret hero act, I would love to see his reaction to how I've been living for a whole year.

"Well, if you want to help, there's one more thing I have to do," she says. She looks around. "I was hoping to see a friend of mine. He's been helping me a lot lately."

"_He_?" Aang repeats. "Who's this _he_?"  
"His name is Phantom," she says. "And he may or may not be a spirit-"

"You've been in contact with a spirit? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I sort of didn't know at first, but then he said he was trying to find a way back to the Spirit World, but he called it something else. A something zone…" She shakes her head. "Anyways, he's been helping me feed the villagers."

"What does he look like? Maybe I've seen him before."

"I honestly don't know," she answers truthfully. "I wasn't able to see much behind this veil. All I know is that he had white hair and a black robe of some kind."

Robe? Well, it sounds more majestic than "jumpsuit"…

"Huh," Aang says. "He doesn't sound familiar. But he does sound friendly!"

"That's why I want him to help destroy the factories," she explains.

Should I introduce myself? They might recognize me. After all, change the hair and eye color and you've got Danny Fenton. And these people aren't as oblivious as the people in Amity Park, for sure. They wouldn't just pass it off as coincidence.

Besides, Aang's a powerful kid. Maybe he can take this one on his own…

With a little bit of guidance, of course.

Doors start to creak open as villagers begin to overhear the conversation.

Katara grabs Aang's arm. "We better start moving before dawn breaks," she suggests, and they're gone in the blink of an eye.

I find them on a rock just outside of the factory.

"You want to destroy this place?" he asks.

"Yes," she answers. "Sokka was just kidding, but he had a good idea. The factory is the source of all these people's problems. Getting rid of it will permanently help them."

He looks up at the towering structure. "But how are we going to get in? This place seems pretty guarded."

Cue dramatic and mysterious entrance.

"I believe I can help," I say in a low voice. I move my hair so that in covers up my face, making it hard to see.

"Phantom?" Katara asks.

"_You_'_re_ the guy who's been helping Katara?" Aang asks in disbelief. He looks a little…jealous? Maybe it's just my hair making things look funny.

"Yes," I answer. "Now do you want my help or not?"

"How do you plan to help us?" he asks, suspicious.

"Close your eyes," I order. "I'll tell you when to open them."

They look at each other, then me. Obviously, they're a little suspicious of spirit who's telling them to pretty much make themselves vulnerable. But they close their eyes anyway.

I grab their arms and fly them into the factory, making us all invisible. I maneuver past guards and workers until we get to the unguarded heart of the factory. Seriously, who leaves the most important part of a factory unguarded? Oh well, better for us, I guess.

I set them down on a platform. "Okay, open them," I say.

I let go of them, turning them visible. They stare, wide-eyed.

"How'd you-?" Katara starts.

"I have my ways," I answer vaguely. God, this is so much fun being the vague, mysterious person! "Now I've got to go. Good luck."

"Wait!" Aang orders, but I've already phased through the ceiling.

I just hope that they're able to complete the job.

**#**

I wake up to the sounds of footsteps a couple hours later. Sokka is pacing, obviously frustrated.

"Shhh!" Katara hushes. "We don't want to wake Sokka!"

Sokka stops pacing and turns to her.

"Oh, hi Sokka!" Katara says nervously. "We were just out on a morning walk!"

He taps his toe on the ground impatiently. "Oh really?" he says sarcastically. "A morning walk?" He goes over to Katara's sleeping bag and shakes out the hay. "I know you're the Painted Lady, I know you've been sneaking out at night, and I know that you've been feeding Appa-" He sticks out his tongue. "—purple icing tongue berries!" Toph sticks out her own tongue, which has changed to violet, and a bag of berries that Momo's been eating out of. "Katara, you've put the whole mission in jeopardy. We're going. Now."

They start walking reluctantly past him when Sokka stops Aang.

"How long have you known about this?" he asks.

Aang goes wide-eyed. "I only found out this morning!" he defends, hands positioned in surrender.

Sokka looks over to me. "Did _you_ know?"

"Who, me?" I ask, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Uh…no."

He looks at suspiciously, but moves on.

We pack up at start moving when the faintest sound of buzzing fills my ears. It's metallic, like a motor.

"Hey, do you hear that?" I ask.

"Yeah…" Toph agrees. "Let's go check it out."

We follow the buzzing sound to the shores of the river. A fleet of motor boats are racing on the river towards the village. They all share everyone's love for the color red.

"What's going on?" Toph asks.

"Fire Nation soldiers are headed towards the village!" Aang yells, distressed.

Sokka's fuming. He turns to Katara. "What did you do?"

Katara looks down. "I kind of…destroyed the factory."

"YOU _WHAT_?"

She frowns. "Hey, it was _your_ idea!" She accuses, poking on the chest.

He goes wide-eyed. "I was joking! I also said spirit magic and made weird noises! It was never meant to be taken s_eriously_!" He slaps himself on the forehead. "Did you even think this through? The army's going to blame the villagers! They're probably headed out there for revenge."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?"

"Leave? Do nothing?"

"No!" Katara yells. "I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" She starts walking away. "I'm going down to that village and doing whatever I can."

Me and Sokka look at each other and get up.

"Wait!" he says. "I'm coming, too."

"Me too," I add.

She glares at him. "I thought you didn't want to help."

"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you," he admits.

They embrace in this really sweet, cheesy moment that would have Sam gagging.

"Uh…I just want to kick butt," I say.

"Ditto!" Toph agrees.

**#**

We watch as the Fire Nation soldiers pour into the village. They start accusing the innocent villagers, who say they did nothing. The leader, I think, burns down a couple houses. What douche bags.

They light up another house, but I watch as Aang blows them out. They try and try again, but their attempts are in vain.

I sit on the cliff, seeing as I apparently have nothing to do, and watch Sokka start playing an eerie tune on a flute. Fog starts pouring in, blanketing the village.

Somewhere on the other side of the cliff I feel the thud of Toph earthbending. Appa growls after each movement.

If only I could see those Fire Douches' faces. They must be peeing their pants right now.

It's only that I realize how powerful Katara can be.

She destroys most of the jet skis in one swift motion of the water. Those that are still left are being used by frightened soldiers to retreat.

With nobody looking, I fly down to the village, landing behind one of the still-intact houses.

The leader throws a fireball at her. Oh, so _that's_ firebending. Jesus, that looks scary. And powerful.

Katara avoids it with a gust of air, courtesy of our local Avatar. Said airbender also makes the dock split, the leader falling into the water.

Katara rises above him on a small tornado of polluted water. "Leave this village and _never_ come back," she orders.

The leader nods, dazed, and swims for his life until he finds a jet ski. He races off, gone from our vision.

The little boy from the sick ward smiles. "I knew you'd come," he says.

There's a rush of compliments.

"Thank you!"

"Painted Lady, you're the best!"

"You rock!"

Still, nothing about a white-haired helper.

Doc walks up to Katara. "Me and my brothers really owe you a lot," he says. Oh, sure. _Brothers_. He looks at her suspiciously. "Hey, you're not the Painted Lady! You're that colonial girl!"

She looks, shocked, at her hand. It's smudged in red paint.

"Yeah, you're the lady who gave me the fish!" the little boy says.

And here comes the bad part.

"She's a waterbender!"

"How dare she impersonate our sacred Painted Lady!"

This crowd is very fickle, isn't it?

They surge towards her, angry. But something stops them: Sokka.

"Hey, she might be a waterbender," he says. "But because of her that factory won't be destroying your village anymore. The army is gone. You should be on your knees thanking her!"

Aw, he really does have a heart.

"Sokka, it's okay," Katara says. She takes off her hat. "I shouldn't have pretended to be someone I'm not, and I know that. But whether or not the Painted Lady is real, all I know is that you're problems are real. Your river is real. You can't just wait around for someone to help you. You have to help yourselves."

"She's right," Doc admits. "But what can we do?"

"Maybe we can clean the river!" someone suggests. I almost laugh at the sound of Toph's baritone.

"Yeah, we can clean the river!" Doc agrees. The whole crowd cheers. Jesus, these people are _really_ fickle. "Thank you. You know, you're not bad for a waterbender."

"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, would you?" she asks, smiling hopefully.

"No problem," Doc reassures. "Keeping secrets is a personal specialty. My brother, Xu, though…he's a blabbermouth."

I facepalm behind the house and Sokka does, too.

"So are you going to help us clean?" Katara asks.

"No, ma'am," Doc declines. "I'm going to get my brother Bushi to do that." He quickly switches to yet another hat. "Hey, I'm Bushi! Let's get some river cleaning done!"

I knew it. I knew that man was all sorts of fruit loop.

Aang smiles and points at him. "Aha! I knew you were the same guy! You're the shop owner _and_ the dock guy!"

Doc/Xu/Bushi/I'm losing track just smiles blankly. "Oh, you mst be talking about my brothers, Doc and Xu."

Aang frowns. "No, I just saw you!" he accuses. "You switched hats and used a different name!"

Bushi comes to a realization. "Oh, you know who does that? My brother, Doc." He leans in. "He's crazy!" He then walks off, using the most insane laugh I've ever heard.

**#**

We pack up our things after helping to start the clean-up party. There's still this tension between me and the group that I notice. I mean, I know I haven't helped out much or anything, and I might not be staying long, but even in their hospitality I feel separated. Sokka is suspicious of me, Katara is confused by me, and Aang is friendly to everybody. The only person I think who has genuinely started accepting me is Toph. But that's probably because of our shared love for kicking ass and taking names.

While rolling up my sleeping bag, I feel the familiar chill of my ghost sense going off. I don't know why, but it's kind of reassuring.

I quietly sneak off and start searching until I'm confronted with the same mist Katara used. I wander deeper into it.

I come to an overlook, and Katara is sitting on the edge, gazing at the village. I'm about to warn her about the ghost when the fog clouds my vision. Then I see her.

She's pale, with red marking decorating her face, neck, and shoulder. Her hair is dark, thick, and long. A wide hat sits atop her head, a sheet of fabric attached to it. A dress is draped over her.

Katara looks up at her in wonder.

"Thank you," the Painted Lady says.

She recedes back into the mist.

All that trouble for a "thank you"? The ghosts here have a lot more showmanship than the ones in Amity Park.

I return back to the campsite. Katara follows a couple minutes later, smiling and looking proud.

I continue packing and pretend I didn't see a thing.

**#**

**I hope you liked it. I know Danny is very proficient in a lot of the dialogue, but that's because he hasn't been properly integrated into the group. He still has a lot to learn. That's why, next week with "Sokka's Master" I'm think MAJOR group bonding while Sokka is away…and then some bonding with Sokka himself.**

**See you next Monday!**

**-ZG**


	6. Sokka's Master, Part 1

**Hello, guys! Like before, this chapter is split into two parts.**

**The reviews have been awesome. Loving it!**

**#**

We travel for a day or two on Appa. Aang wasn't lying when he said this thing can fly. I mean, sure, they had referenced it a lot, but I never thought the thing could _actually propel itself into the air and st_ay _there_. I thought it was some inside joke.

It feels good to fly again and even better to not be the one doing the work. Too bad I can't get a good view from above. Aang is bending a could for our cover, so everything around us is mist unless we the potential danger of running into a mountain shows up. On the saddle, Toph is sleeping while Sokka is observing multiple scrolls. Katara is sewing something up.

I keep looking over the side, wanting to have that familiar feeling of being able to look down on everybody. When you're a scrawny kid getting beat up all the time it's nice to feel some sort of authority. But nope. Just plain, white mist.

"Don't look down," Katara warns. "You might get sick."

I look at her. "Don't worry. I'm not afraid of heights."

"That may be, but we're at least a thousand feet in the air," she points out. "It took me awhile to get used to it."

I snort. "I'm used to it. Besides, I've gone higher."

She raises an eyebrow. "You have? Are there sky bison where you're from?"

"Don't be silly, Katara," Sokka chastises. "Sky bison are practically extinct."

"Hey!" Aang shouts. He's sitting in the front, holding a rope and concentrating ahead. "You never know. Just because they say something's extinct doesn't mean it is."

Sokka's face falls, like he's made a mistake. "Oh, right. Sorry Aang."

"Its fine," he grumbles, still looking ahead.

I look between the two of them, confused. I wasn't expecting Aang to burst like that. He seems like a sweet little kid.

I look over to Katara. "Could you fill me in?"

She looks shocked. "You mean you don't know?"

I shrug. "I don't know anything about here. Let's just say I dropped out of the sky last week with no knowledge of this place whatsoever, okay?"

She looks warily over to Aang and scoots closer, using a quiet voice. "You know how Aang's an airbender, right?" she whispers.

I nod, frowning. Why is being an airbender related to his outburst?

"Well, 100 years ago, the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads in existence," she explains. "Aang's the last of his kind."

"Air Nomads?" I ask. "Like…monks?"

She nods.

"But aren't monks supposed to be bald?"

She looks down. "Let's just say he had to grow it out."

"So he got those tattoos from the monks," I assume. I point to the blue arrows on his hands.

She nods again. "So Aang's a little touchy on the subject of him being the last airbender. I would suggest you don't bring it up unless necessary."

But something strikes me. "You said all the air monks got wiped out a hundred years ago, right? So how is Aang here?"

She smiles. "He was frozen in an iceberg down in the South Pole. Sokka and I found him after-"

"After she shouted me down," Sokka butts in.

She glares at her brother. "Something like that."

I peer over to Aang. "So he's, what, 110 years old?"

"I'm 112," Aang corrects.

I feel like I've gotten slapped in the face. He's probably heard our whole conversation.

I turn red. "Oh…sorry. You just look young."

"Yeah, being in an iceberg can do that," he sighs. He turns and smiles slightly. "But now you know. I'm the last airbender." His smile becomes a little sad.

"Hey," I say. I get up and walk over to him, m hero complex kicking in and telling me to comfort him. "Trust me. I know what it's like to be unique. It isn't all bad."

His smile returns. "Thanks."

We all hang out in boredom as we travel. Toph wakes up and begins making spare pieces of gravel float. Sokka returns to his scrolls and Katara to her sewing, which turns out to be my shirt. Apparently, when Toph sneak attacked me, it got torn in the back by a branch. She says she's never heard of a shop called K-Mart, which makes me laugh inside.

Sokka pulls out one particular scroll. "Hey guys, I think we should find a place to rest tonight."

Toph looks at him suspiciously. "But I thought you said that we should travel until Appa tires out," she points out.

Ugh, schedules. I zone out of the conversation almost completely.

"Yeah, but I've decided that we can probably take a break from the schedule," he explains.

Katara shakes her head. "Oh no. You are _not_ backing out on the schedule. You risked the wellbeing of an entire village to defend and stick to it."

He scowls. "We fixed the problem! Can you get over it?"

Aang looks back. "Why do you want to stop?"

Sokka holds a scroll in front of his face, turning it left and right. "According to these astronomy charts, there's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight. We don't want to be hit by a giant piece of rock, do we? Besides, it'd be fun to look at."

That grabs my attention. "Meteor shower?" I repeat. "Like, full on, from space meteor shower?"

He nods. "Yup."

"We _have_ to stop," I persuade with a grin.

Toph raises an eyebrow. "You seem to be pretty enthusiastic about rocks falling from space."

I look at her. "And you seem to be pretty unenthusiastic."

"I can't see anything in the sky, newbie," she points out. "Therefore, this meteor thing has no interest in me."

I ignore her new nickname for me. "Anyways, I've always been interested in space, even as a little kid. I'm hoping to be an astronaut when I get older."

"What's an astronaut?" Aang asks.

"It's…" I trail off. I want to go on a long tirade of how the Space Program works and what space food is like and so on, but they don't even have airplanes considering that they're riding on a flying animal. I frown. "Never mind. It's something you do, where I'm from. Only a few select people can do it."

They shrug off my excitement. "Okay," Katara says. "So we'll see the meteor shower tonight. Agreed?"

"Agreed," everyone agrees. Toph sighs.

**#**

A meteor shower is honestly something you should put on your Bucket List, if you have one. You know when you were a kid, and you saw a shooting star? Imagine thousands of those stars rocketing across the sky. When I was a kid I once saw another meteor shower and thought aliens were coming down to Earth to attack us. I even built a makeshift bomb shelter in my room to protect myself, even though it was made of sheets and pillows and a chair from the kitchen. Mom and Dad had to pry me from there and tell me that, unlike ghosts, aliens do not exist. I still slept in that place for a good week.

My mind wanders back to my Mom and Dad. Would I ever see them again, being stuck here in this strange place? Would I see Jazz or Tucker or Sam? I forgot to give Tucker his charger back after he left it at my house. And Sam…I had a lot I didn't tell her, now that I think about it. Funny, how hurling rocks plummeting to Earth can make you reevaluate your life.

"Wow," Katara sighs. "This is amazing to watch."

Toph shrugs. "Eh, you've seen nothing once, you've seen it a thousand times."

"Kind of makes you realize how insignificant you are," Sokka comments.

"You said it, buddy," I agree. "I mean, we're all just tiny specks on a planet that's revolving around one of billions of stars, all in just one galaxy that's part of a whole collection of galaxies, in one universe. And this might not be the only universe."

Sokka frowns. "Okay, I felt insignificant before, but now I just feel tiny."

I shrug. "It's the truth. Who knows how big the place we live in is."

He sighs. "Still, the different universe thing sounds a little out there."

Toph laughs. Unlike us, she's just sitting back and closing her eyes. Though, now that I think about it, it doesn't make much of a difference. "Yeah. I mean, different universes? With different people and everything? Who gave you that idea?"

I shrink back. "Nobody," I say. "It was just a thought."

We return to the meteors. One of them looks brighter than the others, and _closer_. Like it's headed towards the ground.

"Whoa!" Aang exclaims. He sees it, too.

"What's going on?" Toph asks.

"You've _never_ not seen anything like this before," Sokka breathes. He sits up straight.

The meteor glows brighter and rockets over our heads. We turn to follow it as its whizzing sound suddenly stops to make way for a loud boom. A dome of light just over the hill appears and fades, replaced by the red glow associated with fire.

"There might be people over there," I realize.

Aang nods. "Let's go check it out."

We hop onto Appa and make our way down there. The meteor lies in a crater surrounded by blazing fire that's growing quickly. I was right; a mile away there's a village sleeping peacefully.

"The fire is going to destroy that town!" Katara exclaims.

"No duh!" I retort. "So what are we going to do about it?"

She glares as we dive to the ground.

I could probably but a shield around it and choke the fire out. But then I'd have to go ghost, and I think Katara and Aang would be suspicious of the spirit who has conveniently met them at this location.

We jump off of Appa, but Katara stays on.

"There's a creek over there," she points out. Sure enough, a stream of water is some thirty feet away from us. "I'll bend the water onto the fire."

She whips the reins and takes off to the creek. We stand before the blazing ball of fire. The heat is unbearable, like I'm being encased in lava.

Aang looks around, formulating a plan. "Toph," he says, facing her. "Let's make a trench to stop the fire from coming any closer." They start rushing towards the meteor.

"What should I do?" Sokka asks.

Both benders pause as Momo flies overhead.

"Keep an eye on Momo," Aang decides.

I swear I see his eyes bulge. "What? I'm a _lemur sitter_?" Momo lands in front of him, and Sokka starts petting with a scowl. "There, there. Feel better?"

"And me?" I ask. My brain is just urging me to help in any way possible.

Another pause. "Go help Sokka."

Excuse me? "What? I can help guys, just give me something to do!"

Toph shakes her head. "This is something we do on a regular basis. You've only been hanging out with us for, what, a week?" She starts bending a crack in the Earth, along with Aang. "Just go over and watch Momo, newbie. We don't want someone hurt on our hands."

Ugh, I hate that nickname. _Newbie_. Almost as bad as Inviso-Bill.

Still, I give up. At least I'm helping in some way.

Sokka is putting out flames with his machete, and so is Momo. By the time I reach them they've taken care of their area.

"So…what do we do now?" I ask.

He slumps and shrugs. "I don't know. Watch them, do whatever we can, avoid getting hit by something."

"Sounds good to me," I nod. Aang and Toph are still helping with that trench while Katara is carrying a crapload of water over her head, flying on Appa over to the fire.

"Why do they get to have all the fun?" Sokka asks. "I'd like to help, too."

"Dude, trust me," I say, facing him. "You do not want to be the hero. It isn't as glamorous as it sounds."

He frowns. "You seem pretty okay with this, but you say you know what it's like being the hero. Explain."

I smile. "All I'm saying is that they can handle it. And…it's nice not being the one on the battlefield for once."

"Yeah, but when you're on the sidelines all the time it isn't so much fun," he points out quietly.

I'm about to reassure him when Katara guides the water over to Aang. He angles himself over near where we stand.

"Watch out!" he warns. We start running as he propels the water with one big exhale. But we're not fast enough, and I am suddenly covered in snow.

The crackling of the fire is gone.

"Good work, everybody!" I hear Aang say cheerily.

I dig my way out of the snow, a little pissed. Judging from Sokka's expression, for once he is agreeing with me.

**#**

We return to our camp and settle down for a quick rest before the sun rises. Everybody is exhausted. Saving people does that to you.

The minute I lay my head down I am shoved into my worst nightmare.

_Blood and ashes._

_That is honestly all that I see. It's in the streets, on the buildings, on the Ops Center. It's like a cruel, horror-movie version of snow. From above, the air ships are gliding across the air, torching everything in sight._

_He's worse than Pariah. At least Pariah was a ghost. He's a human, and I can't harm another human being. Everything around me is telling me to fight him and end him, but all inside me there's this pleading not to do it. This voice telling me that it'll forever be on my conscience._

_An air ship opens up their bottom doors, letting their contents onto the street I am currently presiding in. I'm horrified._

_Sam, Tucker, my parents, Jazz, Valerie, all of them drop to the ground._

_A second air ship hovers over and repeats the action. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, a girl with a fan in her hands, and a guy Jazz's age with a mark on his face all plummet onto the concrete._

_They're bodies and charred black, but identifiable enough to make me feel sick to my stomach._

"_Daniel, we all knew it had to end this way," a voice says from above. I recognize it. I know it like the back of my hand._

"_Yes, child," another voice says. It's familiar, but I don't know who it belongs to. All I know is that it shows up every night. "We all knew it had to end."_

_The biggest of the air ships, covered in elaborate decorations, sinks in the air and lands just ten feet above the ground, holding out a narrow platform._

_A figure walks out on it. I feel that same charisma I associate with Vlad, only it's different. This man doesn't have something to stop him, like a woman he pines for (no matter how gross it is). He would kill his own kids to get what he wants._

"_Over my dead body," I respond through my teeth._

_He smiles. "Then it seems that we have reached an agreement."_

_He pulls his hands out from under his red cloak, holding another charred body. He drops it in front of me._

_It's me._

I bolt up from where I was sleeping, trying to reach for something. I stare, wide-eyed, as everyone starts getting up.

It takes me a moment to realize that I am currently screaming.

I stop, and look down at myself. I'm human. I'm fine. No black charred spots or anything. I'm okay.

I sigh and lay back down, relieved.

"Thank god," I exhale.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Katara asks.

"More like a horrific nightmare," I tell her, rubbing my hands over my face.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Aang asks.

I gulp. "No. I'm good."

"You sure?" Katara asks.

I nod. "Yeah, guys, I'm fine. One bad dream can't mean anything, right? I'm probably just adjusting or whatever."

It can't mean anything, it can't…

I sigh and stay awake for the whole net hour until the sun comes back up. Nobody asks about my dream and tries to leave me alone. Good. I don't need any more reminders.

We wander around town until we find a nice restaurant to eat in. We get handed our menus.

I lean over to Toph. "Can you tell what this says?" I ask. It's in this weird, Japanese-like calligraphy.

"I'm blind, newbie," she retorts.

"Oh yeah," I say, slapping myself on the forehead. "Forgot. Sorry."

She smiles. "It's okay. It's nice to know I can fool people."

I lean over to Aang. "So…can you tell me what this says?"

He eyes me. "You can't read?"

I blink. "No, I can read. But our form of writing back home is different. Like, _very_ different."

"Oh," he considers. He smiles. "Well, I'll order you one of my favorites. My friend Kuzon used to get it all the time."

I frown. "Wait, but-"

"Kuzon was my friend back before the war," he explains. The waitress comes by and everybody orders. "I'll have the volcano salad, and my friend here will have the smoked sea slug." He smiles.

The waitress leaves, and I glare at him. "_Smoked sea slug_? One of my best friends is a meat connoisseur and even _he_ would be repulsed by that."

Aang shrugs. "Who knows? You might like it."

The waitress comes back with our food. Apparently, Sokka and Katara ordered the same thing as I did. They start digging in, while I poke the poor creature and wait for it to attack me.

"Hear, you've got to crack open the shell," Katara explains. "It's a lot like a lobster-snake."

I do as she says and a bunch of steam erupts from it, revealing a bunch of guts. I hesitantly pick up a piece and place it in my mouth.

"How is it?" Aang asks.

I nod. "Not bad," I admit. I dig in.

Aang looks around. "These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night."

"Yeah," Toph agrees. "The worst thing about being in disguise is that there's no more hero worship. I miss the love."

"Yeah, boo-hoo, poor heroes," Sokka grumbles. He's sitting on the steps of the restaurant.

"What's your problem?" Katara asks. "You haven't even touched your smoked sea slug."

He sighs. "It's just…all of you guys can do this awesome bending stuff like putting out forest fires and making other stuff fly around. I can't fly around, okay? I can't do anything."

I'm about to point out my existence when I realize that I _can_ fly around, literally.

"That's not true," Katara reassures. "No one can read a map like you."

"I can't read at all!" Toph points out cheerily.

"Ditto," I say.

She looks to me. "We could be called the Can't Read Couple," she realizes with a smirk.

"Anything to get read of 'newbie'," I say.

"Oh, that name isn't going anywhere."

I frown.

Aang nods. "Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time? I mean, look at Katara's hair, right? What's up with that?"

Aang, I hear the sentiment. But learn from a guy who's gotten rejected multiple times: do not make fun of a girl's appearance.

"What? What's wrong with my hair?" She grips her hair and blushes.

Aang turns crimson. You have much to learn, young padawan. "Nothing," he stumbles. "I was just trying to-"

"Look," Sokka interrupts. "I appreciate the effort. It's just that each of you is so amazing and so special and I'm…not. I'm just the guy in the group who's regular."

"Hey, I'm here," I point out. My comment is not heard.

Katara walks over to her brother. "I'm sorry you're feeling so down. But I hope you know, none of us see you that way." Her expression brightens. "I know something that'll make you feel better."

Sokka looks up. "You do?"

**#**

"Shopping!"

_Shopping?_ Excuse the sexism, but isn't that more of a girl's thing?

But Sokka looks ecstatic, and starts running around the shop, talking about redoing his image by getting a new weapon. He picks up a pair of nun-chucks and swings them around using ridiculous ninja noises until he bops himself in the head.

I laugh. "Smooth, boomerang boy."

He scowls, and I feel myself getting punched in the arm.

"Hey," Toph says. "I do the nicknames."

We walk around the shop. I find a cool pair of daggers and start twirling them around like batons. I mess up and the weapons go flying through the air, pinning themselves to the wall.

"Maybe weapons aren't for me," I realize.

I turn around the corner to see Aang in a suit of armor that would make Skulker cry.

"Whoa," I say. "That's…intimidating."

"I know, right? I was telling Katara about my wind sword-"

"Wind sword?" I repeat, confused.

"Yeah, it's where I—oh, whoa!" He topples over in the armor. "Maybe I'll just stick with what I got."

We turn our attention to Sokka, who's trying out various weapons. I don't recognize half of them, but even I can tell he isn't exactly a master at them. But his eyes bulge at something on the wall, and he rushes over.

"Now that's what Sokka's talking about," he says.

We walk over to see that he's pining over a sword. I mean a legit sword. Not plastic, foam, wood, or a paper towel roll. Like a hilt, sheath, and metal sword.

The shopkeeper walks over. "You have a good eye," he compliments. "That's an original from Piandao, the greatest swords master and sword maker in Fire Nation History. He lives in a castle up the road from here." He walks away to deal with another customer.

Aang breaks into a smile. "That's it! That's what you needed all along, Sokka."

"A sword?" Sokka guesses.

"Not a sword," Aang dismisses. "A _master._" Sokka takes the sword off the rack, observing it. "We have all had masters to help us get better. You should see if you can study with Piandao."

"That's a great idea," Katara says. "I could have never gotten to where I am without Master Pakku. Everyone needs a teacher."

Aang nods. "Monk Gyatso was the best mentor I ever had."

Toph shrugs. She's looking away from the group, but still listening. "I learned from badgermoles. They don't talk, but they're still good teachers."

They all look over to me, as if they're asking if I ever had a teacher. The only thing I can come closest to is Vlad.

"I…um, didn't have a teacher," I admit. "The only one wasn't a very nice guy, let's put it that way."

"But you had to have some guidance for _something_," Toph points out.

I shake my head. "I sort of just taught myself everything I know. I had friends to help, but…yeah."

Sokka pulls out the sword, a metallic sound sliding across it. "It would be nice to be a master swordfighter. Alright, I'll talk to him." He puts the sword back into its sheath and places it on the rack again. He turns to me. "You want to come? Maybe we can be tutored together."

I shake my head. "No thank you," I say. "I'm perfectly fine with where I am, thank you very much."

**#**

Sokka took off about two hours ago, telling us that he might be gone awhile so they don't have to worry. From that point on, things went at a particularly slow pace. I took a nap, no hideous nightmares coming to visit me for once.

I sit on Appa's saddle, fishing around from my regular clothes so that I can find the time. I find my pants and dig into the left pocket, pulling a silver Motorola flip phone. The battery is still half full.

The other kids are sitting in a circle, bored out of their minds. They keep talking about Sokka and jokes, playing around with Momo.

I flip open the phone, which tells me that it is three in the afternoon, and notice that there's still no cell reception.

"Oh, _come on_," I groan. "We're on a freaking hilltop!"

They all look over to me.

"What are you whining about?" Toph asks.

I pause. "Um…nothing."

"What's that in your hand?" Aang asks.

I clutch the phone to my chest. "Nothing…nothing at all."

Katara puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow. "Show us," she demands.

"Really, it's nothing," I reassure them. "You wouldn't understand it anyways."

Aang shrugs. "Okay then. How about you put it away and we can find something to do?"

I smile and place the phone on top of my pants, jumping down from the saddle and landing on my feet. "So what do you want to do?"

He smiles mischievously and flies into the air with a big gust of wind. He lands on the saddle and holds up the red silver cell phone is triumph. He looks at it. "What is this?"

"It's…something from where I live," I lie. "It's nothing important. Now give it back."

"If it's not important, why can't we see it?" Katara asks.

"Because you wouldn't understand it," I tell them.

Aang jumps down, twirling the phone in a tube of air. "At least tell us what it does."

I sigh. These kids are really determined, aren't they? "Fine. But you've got to give it to me."

The phone lands in my hands. I hold it up. "This is a cell phone."

"Cell phone?" Katara repeats, confused. "Where you in jail? Are you a criminal?"

"What? No!" I dismiss. "Not that kind of cell. 'Cell phone' is short for cellular telephone."

"What's that mean?" Toph asks.

"I…have no idea," I admit. "All I know is that a telephone is how we, back at home, communicate with people. You punch in some numbers and you're able to talk to the person that those numbers belong to. It's connected to a wire, so when you talk into it, it sends what you say over to the person, and their phone does the same."

"So…it's like a messenger hawk," Katara hypothesizes.

"Yeah, but it's not an animal," I explain. "But a cell phone doesn't have a phone. It sends it's messages by passing signals through these huge buildings called cell towers, and it passes on until it reaches that number."

"That's really confusing," Aang says.

I sigh. "I'm guessing that you don't have cell towers then?"

They look at each other and shake their heads.

"Great," I say. "Now there's no way I can't reach home."

"What's your home like?" Aang asks. "You talk about it a lot."

I'd rather avoid the subject altogether, thank you very much. "Do you guys have something better to do?"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Toph says, "but we've been lying around bored for the past couple of hours. Anything is better than what we've been doing."

I sit down. "Well…okay."

They all sit down as well.

"So…where I live. Yeah. Okay, so it's called Amity Park, and it's bigger than most villages. You could called it a town, or even a small city if you wanted to. It really isn't that big. I mean, it's not like New York City or anything."

"New York City?" Katara asks. "The biggest city we know of is Ba Sing Se."

I shake my head. "Okay, so it's not as big as Ba Sing Se. But it isn't like the villages we've been to. It's got these tall buildings about two hundred feet high, and a lot of roads. You know this wilderness out here? Yeah, there's none of that."

"I'm surprised you haven't had an angry spirits," Aang comments.

"Eh, we've had a few," I confess. _More like a few thousand._ "But we've had then taken care of. But yeah, all it is are loads on concrete and brownstone."

Toph smiles. "I like the sound of that."

"You would. But we have all this stuff you guys don't have. Cell phones, video games, cars-"

"Carts? We have carts," Katara defends.

"No. _Cars_. They're like…wagons that move on their own," I explain. "No animal pulling them or anything."

"Whoa," Aang says. He frowns. "So how'd you end up here?"

"I said something I shouldn't have," I say, rubbing the back of my neck. "And I got taken away over to here."

"That's so sad," Katara says. She puts a hand on my shoulder. "Once this war is over I promise we'll get you back home."

"Thanks," I say. I look down. "I just hope they're doing okay without me."

"I'm sure they're doing fine," she says. "The Fire Nation hasn't gotten to them yet, and from what I hear your town's people sound very strong."

I smile. Yeah, it'll be fine. Sam and Tucker have all the weapons galore, not to mention a thermos is each of their backpacks. They can handle themselves. I'm just worried about the fact that I'm missing.

"I'm sure they are," I say reluctantly. And I'm hoping to God that I'm right.

**#**

**Part 2 will be up tomorrow. I think I'll try uploading the first parts on Sundays and the second parts on Mondays, to give some space in between. It may get a little faulty, what with school coming around the corner and all, but I hope this works!**

**-ZG**


	7. Sokka's Master, Part 2

**Part 2, people! I'm loving all this love I'm getting.**

**If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the reviews! I'll answer them next time around.**

**Agh, I'm so sorry that this was late! I pulled into a day of back-to-school shopping unexpectedly!**

**-ZG**

**#**

It looks like Sokka is staying the night over at Piandao's castle, according to the messenger hawk sent to us. The thing almost ripped by eyes out. But, as Katara read, he was going to make his own sword soon and apparently had a good first day of training.

To the team, I guess getting ready for bed was pretty much sleeping in your bare essentials. I'd like to keep myself in my comfort zone, thank you very much. We all lie down, ready for some sleep. But I'm trying to keep myself awake. I don't want another nightmare again.

Aang, who's also awake, turns his back to me. And I see it.

"Whoa," I say. I tap Aang on the shoulder.

He rolls over, looking confused. "What is it?"

"When did you get electrocuted?" I ask.

His eyes go big and he sits up. "W-What are you talking about?"

"The scar," I say. "You were electrocuted."

"How do you know? It's just a scar." He looks around. "I could've been scraped, or burned or something."

"I'd know an electrocution scar anywhere," I tell him.

He raises an eyebrow, making the arrow on his forehead move as well. "How?"

I look around and see that everybody else is sleeping. I lift up the tunic-robe thingy I have to show my side, revealing a scar mirroring his. Of course, it's tinged a slight greenish color from the ectoplasm in the Portal, but it's the same nonetheless.

"Like I said," I repeat. "I'd know an electrocution scar anywhere." I release the cloth from my hands, covering up the scar again. "So how'd you get it?"

He looks down. "Long story."

I nod. "Got it."

He looks up to me. "So how'd you get yours?"

I mirror his actions. "Long story."

There's a pause. "You have a lot of secrets, don't you?" he asks.

I lie back down. "You could say that. I like to call it 'protecting myself from danger'. I mean, you don't want the Fire Nation knowing you're the Avatar, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And I don't people knowing-" I almost slip and say 'that I'm half-ghost'. I close my mouth. "—knowing that I'm different."

"I thought you said being unique is good," Aang reminds me.

"It is," I agree. "But I'd just like to keep some things to myself, okay? Maybe I'll tell you later." I close my eyes. "But right, I just want some sleep, thank you very much."

I didn't hear a response, so I smiled and decided to actually get some sleep, at least to avoid the questions.

After five minutes, I drifted off…

"_So you're saying that he's a threat?" a voice asks. It's that same evil voice I keep hearing. Raspy, menacing. He sits, surrounded by fire, somehow peaceful and not afraid of getting burned. I sit in the fire as well, to his left. I sit crossed-legged on the platform with him._

"_I have fought the boy many times," someone answers. I can't see him, but I know who he is. "He is very powerful, and very determined."_

_The man muses over this. He turns to his right. "Daughter, what do you think of this?"_

"_I say annihilate him before he can do any damage," she says. Strange, her voice sounds a little familiar. Kind of like Sam's, but not. It has a razor sharp edge Sam couldn't possess if she tried._

"_Excuse me, princess," Vlad says. I can see him now. He looks…scared? He's scared of her? "But could I say something?"_

_She frowns. "Proceed," she says suspiciously._

"_Killing the boy may not prove very useful," he says. "You know how these things work."_

"_I agree," the man says. "I think it wise that we try a different angle." He turns to me. "What do you think, Zuko?"_

_I'm shocked, for some reason. It's as if these feelings aren't mine, like I'm being overshadowed. But immediately I'm pleased. I feel accomplished._

_So I can't screw this up._

"_I completely agree with you, Father," I say, keeping a steady gaze. The voice isn't mine._

_The man, called Father, smiles and turns to Vlad. "Once we take care of him, we will strike."_

My eyes shoot open, and I take in the bright sunlight.

"It burns!" I cry in mock pain. I turn over to the ground and enjoy the darkness. I'm practically planking the dirt. "That's better."

Of course, since irony loves me, I'm met with a rock to the gut. I rocket into the air and land with Toph's grinning face just above me.

"You're never going to stop that, are you?" I assume.

"I find it to be a convenient way to practice my earthbending," she says.

I glare at her, but sit up anyways.

Katara and Aang are fighting over a map.

"We started here!" Katara defends, pointing a spot on the paper.

"No, we started over there!" Aang says.

Toph sighs. "You two noodle-brains don't know what you're doing." She looks down. "I miss Sokka."

Katara smiles. "Oh, I've got a joke!" She looks over to Toph. "If you miss him so much, why don't you marry him?"

It's daytime, but I swear I hear crickets.

Toph walks away and sits down, away from Katara, and starts playing with gravel again. A bug flies by Aang and he blows it off.

"Wow," I say. "This is depressing."

"You said it," Toph agrees.

"Don't guys have something to do? Like save another village or whatever?"

Katara lies down. "Nope. Sokka's the one with the schedule, the map skills…the jokes."

"Hey, I'm good at witty banter!" I point out.

Aang frowns. "Then why haven't you shown it yet?"

I think for a minute. "Huh. I guess I have to be fighting for my life for it to actually work."

"I can arrange that," Toph says. She's still not facing anybody.

"Do you have any more stories about your home town?" Katara asks me. "Those were fun yesterday."

I frown. "You guys just kept saying how ridiculous it is that pictures could move on their own."

"Because it is," Toph comments.

I sigh. "Okay…what do you want to hear? I've probably got loads."

"What's your family like?" Aang asks.

Okay, maybe I don't have loads. "Um…I'd rather not talk about it."

His face falls. "Oh. I get it. I didn't mean to-"

I realize what he thinks I'm saying. "No! No! They're not dead. No. It's just kind of hard to explain. My family's a little unusual."

"How so?" Katara asks.

God, how do I explain this? "Well…okay. My sister…she's nuts. Not psychotic nuts, but she's _really_ overprotective. She's probably freaking out right now, come to think of it." I pause and laugh, imagining Jazz taking down every stranger in the street with posters titled _Have You Seen This Child?_ "Uh…but yeah. She's going off to college soon."

"What's college?" Toph asks.

"It's like regular school, but for older people. A continued education. You usually go when you're eighteen."

"But that's when the men get shipped off to war and the girls start looking for somebody to marry," Katara comments.

I cross my arms and exhale. "Here, yes. But back home? No. We don't get drafted back there. We only sign up if we want to. And girls can marry any time they feel like, but it's usually socially acceptable to get a full education in college first. The longer you're in the school, the more respected you are. My sister is looking to go to school for a _long time_, that's for sure. She's smart enough."

"The place you live sounds so…reckless," Toph states. "I like it."

I laugh. "Yeah. We call ourselves 'the land of the free' back there."

"And your parents?" Aang asks.

I have to stop and think about that one. "My parents…are interesting. They're not very normal, but I like them that way."

"Even for your upside down hometown?" Katara inquires.

I nod. "Yup. Even then. They're inventors, the both of them. They even have a work space in our basement."

"Do their inventions work?" Aang wonders, very intrigued.

I shrug. "Sometimes. It's hit and miss, most days." I look around. "So…what are your families like? They must've been pretty cool to let you go on this adventure stuff."

They all look down, and I hear Toph scoot farther away from us. Crap, I've hit a sore spot.

"Uh…sorry," I apologize. "I'm guessing not everybody has the quirky fun time family I have."

"Well, you know my story," Aang sighs.

"My dad is out fighting in the war," Katara tells me. "And my mom was killed by a firebender when I was little. All I have left are Sokka and Gran-Gran."

"I'm sorry," I say, trying to make her feel better.

It's silent, and I wait for Toph to answer. But she doesn't.

We wait another couple of hours, lounging around in this thick bubble of awkwardness I've set over everybody. All of us are lying down, trying to sleep, when suddenly Toph bolts up.

"Sokka's here!" she announces.

Sure enough, Sokka walks up over the hill. He's wearing a red robe, though, instead of his usual Fire Nation disguise. It was probably given to him by Master Pee and Dough…that's his name, right?

"Hey guys," he greets. "What are you doing?"

Everyone except me crowds around him and suffocates him in one giant, mushy group hug. The shouts of happiness begin.

"Sokka!"

"You're back!"

"We've missed you so much!"

They release him from the hug.

"Say something funny," Aang orders.

Sokka frowns. "Funny how?"

Both Aang and Katara laugh.

He turns to Toph. "What's their deal?" he asks.

"I don't know," she lies. "They missed you or something. I didn't care." She turns around, cheeks tinted red.

I notice something in her sentence. "Wait," I say. "But didn't you say you mi-"

She stomps her foot and I fly fifteen feet back. Note to self: do not correct Toph.

"Thanks," Sokka says. "That warms my heart. Anyway, I need some help."

I rub my head and stand up. "What kind of help?"

"Anyone think they can move a meteor?"

**#**

We arrive at Piandao's castle after a half an hour of Toph earthbending the asteroid. I have to admit, the place is huge. Bigger than the White House, maybe. Sokka flamboyantly knocks on the doors, rapidly slamming the knockers simultaneously.

A man tan man around Mr. Lancer's age emerges. Sheesh, guys like to wear their hair in buns, don't they?

He looks at Sokka, and then to all of us. "Who's this?" he asks.

"Oh, these are just my friends," he answers quickly. "You know, other good Fire Nation folk." I stand still while everybody bows, but quickly catch on and mimic them. Sokka pats the gigantic rock. "Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?"

The man, obviously Piandao, walks up to the space rock and observes it. He stands up straight. "We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world," he proclaims.

Obviously he hasn't seen the Fright Night's sword.

We drag the meteor in, not using earthbending, and we're able to get it into the sword making area. It's hot and musty in the tented area, so the minute we're told we're free to look around I bolt out, looking for some fresh air.

According to Piandao's butler Sokka's going to be here for a while. He offers us the guest bedrooms for the night and says we are allowed to explore the castle grounds.

I walked around the garden, Aang trailing behind me. Katara and Toph had gone off do to some girly thing or whatever, like talking in the bathroom.

"Whoa," I exhale. "This place is just so big."

Aang shrugs. "It's okay. The Southern Air Temple is larger."

"Dude, the biggest structure where I'm from would be _tiny_ compared to this," I tell him.

"You sure?" he asks.

I nod. "We like to compact everything together. Big buildings are thin, and wide buildings are rare. But tall, wide places like this? Very rare."

"This is surprisingly peaceful for a Fire Nation home," Aang points out. "I haven't seen a single war weapon or poster of Ozai in sight."

I turn to him. "Who's Ozai?"

"The Fire Lord," he explains. "He's usually plastered everywhere with words around him. You know, 'obey' 'serve your nation'…usual stuff."

"Huh," I say. "That's some pretty straightforward propaganda."

"Yeah, but there's none of that here," Aang tells me. We walk over near the bamboo forest. "At least the landscape is pretty."

"Yeah, my friend would be in heaven here," I tell him. "What, with all the nature and everything. Just add a dark, creepy bookstore and I think she'd never want to leave."

"Which friend is that?" he asks. "You seem to have a lot."

"You know the one who I said didn't eat anything with a face?" I ask him.

He nods.

"That's her."

He pouts, as if in deep thought. "You speak of her very fondly."

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"When you talk to her, you get this big smile," he explains. "And you haven't said anything bad about her."

I go pale. "What…what are you talking about?"

He grins widely. "You like her, don't you?"

"I…no. No I don't," I respond, too quick to be authentic.

"Ha! You've got a crush!" he says, pointing at me. God, it's worse than Youngblood.

"I do _not_ have a crush," I say, but I already feel my face getting warm. "She's just my best friend, okay?"

"So what's her name?" he asks. He still hasn't lost that stupid 'I-found-you-out' smile.

"Samantha Manson," I answer. "But call her Sam, or she'll shove her boot straight up your-" I pause in the middle of my joke, realizing that Aang is still just a kid. "Straight into places unknown."

He looks like he's eaten a lemon. "Ouch," he mumbles. "She sounds…peaceful."

"She's tough, but she's really nice," I explain. "The sarcasm and death threats are all just a cover up, really."

He points to me. "You've got that grin again."

I realize that he's right and frown. "Do not."

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Well what about you and Katara, then?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"What about me and Katara?" he asks, looking around nervously. "There's nothing with me and Katara."

"Oh come on," I say, rolling my eyes. "I've seen the looks and all the stuff you do for her. And back home I'm nicknamed Clueless One."

He goes wide eyed and gives that lemon-face again. He calms down. "I—I have no idea what you're talking about," he says. "I mean she's my friend. Sure, she's nice and smart and caring and pretty and…" He slumps and falls to the ground with a thud. "That's not very convincing, is it?"

I smile and shake my head. "You've got it bad," I tell him.

"Hey, so do you!" he defends.

"I do not! You're just a-"

"Hey guys," a female voice interrupts. Katara is walking over. "Toph is out having fun in the rock garden." She frowns. "Aang, why are you on the ground?"

He goes red. "Uh, no reason! Just very sunny and comfortable here."

"It's a stone pathway," she says. "Doesn't look too comfortable."

"Well—well, uh…"

I laugh. "Smooth, slick," I comment. I give him a hand and pull him off of the ground. I look over to Katara. "So how far is Sokka in the whole sword-making process?"

"We'll have to spend the night," she reminds me, "but right now he's just chipped off all the meteorite he needs."

"Do you think I could get a piece?" I ask.

"Maybe…who knows?" she shrugs. "Why are you so interested?"

"I don't know…the fact that it's not from this world? That it literally fell from the sky? Why wouldn't you want it?"

She shrugs. "Good point. So what were you two talking about before? I heard yelling."

Aang and I glance at each other and respond with "nothing" in unison.

She looks at the two of us. "Nothing. All that yelling was over 'nothing'?"

Aang nods. "Yup. Nothing…well, it had to be something. You can't exactly talk about nothing at all. But it just that I…um…"

"What Aang means to say," I continue. "Is that it was nothing that would interest you. You know…guy stuff."

"Guy stuff? What sort of guy stuff?"

Aang looks like he's going to pee. "Girls," he blurts out. My palm meets my face.

Her eyes grow wide. "Oh! Oh, okay." She blushes slightly. "Then, um, I guess I just leave for you two to talk about…girls."

She's gone in under a second.

I look over to Aang. "Nice," I comment.

"I can't help it!" he defends. "I lied to her once and things got really bad. I can't _not_ be honest with her, she'd find out!"

I raise my eyebrows and laugh. "Wow. Not only do you have it bad, but you are whipped, my friend."

He scowls.

**#**

The next day, during lunch, we're called into Piandao's study. Sokka's finished his sword, apparently, and he wants us there for the big reveal.

He's sitting on his knees, head down, as Piandao walks up with the new sword sheathed. He goes onto to talk about Sokka's day of training and how his skills were, for better words, lacking. I try to concentrate on the speech, but I'm in awe at the weapon he shows us. It's black as night and sleek, shining as the sun touches it. He says that Sokka is worthy of the sword, and hands it to him.

Sokka looks at the weapon regretfully and looks up.

"I'm sorry, Master," he says. "You're wrong."

_Excuse me?_

"I'm not worthy," he explains. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe."

_EXCUSE ME? _Sokka, can you please stop talking?

"I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you," he continues. "I'm sorry."

Piandao looks at him with a steady gaze, showing no emotion.

"I'm sorry, too," he apologizes. Then he attacks.

He swiftly turns around and pulls out a sword from his collection. Sokka reacts quickly, using his sheathed weapon to block the attack.

We all start getting up. After all, our friend is in danger. Sure, he's a bit of a sarcastic know it all who doesn't trust me the slightest, but he's still a friend.

His hand blocks us, however. We pause our stampede.

"No," he says. "This is my fight. Alone."

Piandao's butler suggests that we move this fight to the courtyard, since he doesn't want to clean up any broken pottery. With as much tension as possible, we all go down to the open area where Piandao and Sokka go back to their orginal positions. The rest of us stay back at the main building, on the deck, so that we don't get hurt but have an easily accessible point to defend Sokka if he gets in too deep.

They move quickly, and I'm itching to help. Maybe I can go ghost somewhere and invisibly help him. But there comes the idea of creepy-spirit-ghost-guy. Paulina, who isn't the smartest girl in the world, figured out that wherever I am, Phantom is. These kids would be smart enough to catch on easily.

So I stay back as they pressure each other to different spots in the courtyard. Piandao starts complimenting Sokka on how he is fighting, and I get a brief flashback of Vlad doing the same thing to me. I guess it's a mentor (or wannabe mentor) thing.

Sokka gets dust in his mentor's eyes, making him temporarily unable to see. He tries to start sneaking off, but a couple steps in he lands on a twig. Rookie mistake.

The fighting continues until somehow the old man has Sokka on the ground, the tip of his blade positioned at his head.

Okay, Sokka said this was his fight. But right now, he is currently losing and needs to phone a friend.

We jump over and start running, but the crazy sword maker does the unexpected. He brings the blade away from Sokka, stopping us while we're just feet away from him.

"Excellent work, Sokka," he compliments. Still blinded, he signals to hi butler, who throws a sheath. He angles his weapon so that the sheath slides perfectly over in one fluid motion.

Now that's what I call skills.

He faces Aang. "I think I'm a little old to be fighting the Avatar," he says.

We relax from our stances.

"How did you know?" Aang asks.

"Oh, I've been around a while," he explains. "You pick things up. Of course, I knew from the beginning that Sokka was Water Tribe." He wipes off the dust from his eyes and takes a sip of his drink. "You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try 'Lee'. There's a million 'Lee's."

"But why would you train somebody from the Water Tribe?" Sokka asks. He gets up from his state of being flattened to the ground.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation," Piandao explains in a very Mr. Miyagi way. "Knowledge of the arts belong to us all." He picks up Sokka's sword and hands it to him. "You must continue your training on your own, Sokka. If you continue on this path, I know that one day you will become a greater master than I am."

Sokka smiles. "Thanks." He bows in respect.

Piandao reciprocates. "Come, let me show you out. I'm guessing that you have much work to do."

We walk out, arriving near the doors to go inside.

"Still weird," I mumble.

"I would expect that you've seen much more unusual sights than that," Piandao says from behind me. The rest of the group has already exited through the doors. I whip around to face the master.

"What do you mean?" I ask nervously.

"Like I said," he reminds me, "when you're as old as I am, you pick things up. Now I would suggest that you get back to your group. They need you."

Fruit-loop.

We walk out of the castle and start down the hill when Piandao's butler trails behind us. He runs up, panting, and faces Sokka.

"The master wanted you to have this," he explains, handing him a small brown bag. "To remember him by."

The butler leaves and Sokka pulls out a small decorated circle.

"It's a Pai Sho tile," he explains out loud.

Aang peers over his shoulder. "The White Lotus. Hmmm."

"Pai Sho?" I repeat, confused.

"It's a strategy game," Sokka explains, still focusing on the tile. "It's popular. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."

"Well what does it mean?" Katara asks.

"I have no idea."

We all look over to Piandao's doors, which have the same decoration as the tile. Interesting.

Sokka snaps out of his inquisitorial trance. "Oh, that reminds me! Toph, I think you might like it since you've never had the chance to bend space-earth before."

He pulls out a small chunk of meteorite and gives it to her.

"Did you get one for me?" I ask, optimistic.

He looks at me. "No, sorry. I forgot you're into all that space stuff."

Oh, _well then_. I see how it is.

"Sweet! Check this out!" Toph says. She holds the meteorite in midair and forms it into various shapes, like it's made of clay.

"You know, I don't think there's much a thing as space earth," Katara muses. "I mean it's from space, so it's not exactly earth."

Sokka frowns as we start down the hill. "Must you ruin everything?"

Katara sighs. "I can't believe I missed you."

I smile. "I bet Toph missed you more."

I meet the expected chunk of rock that flings me into the air. The whole group laughs as I land with a thud, getting up and seeing them happy.

You know, he's crazy, but maybe Piandao was right. Maybe they _do_ need me.

**#**

**I hope you enjoyed this. Next up, "The Beach". You know what that means? More nightmares and team bonding. Whoop, whoop!**

**Reviews are very much appreciated.**

**-ZG**


	8. Trial and Error

**Greetings, my readers! I love all the love this has been getting, it's so much I might drown in it!**

**This is a bit of a filler chapter, seeing that not much goes on in "The Beach" that I can work into a two-parter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I thought I should put this here because I think I forgot. But I don't think Bryke or Butch are high school girls, so is it really necessary?**

**#**

Number one rule if you're a fugitive: never stay in one location for long. Personal experience has taught me that. So after the crazy sword master leaves us to our own disposal, we pack up and leave. Toph decides to gloat and bend her meteorite chunk in front me, making sure I remember that _she_ is the one with a space rock souvenir, and not me.

While we're flying in the air, she turns the fragment into the shape of a diamond.

"Betcha wish you could do this, newbie," she says, squashing the shape and turning it into a swirl.

"Yeah, yeah," I dismiss. "I'm not the one with the space rock and I'm not a bender. Laugh it up."

"You get used to it," Sokka tells me. He's observing his new sword, swinging it in the air. "I love this thing! It may even rival my boomerang!"

He swings dangerously close to my face, slicing off the tips of my hair. "Watch it!" I order. "Keep flailing that thing around and you might ki…" I trail off. "Kill" isn't the right word, is it? "Maim me."

He stops and sheaths it. "Might not be an accident," he grumbles.

I stick my tongue out at him.

"Hey," Aang says. "Didn't you say nobody had heard of bending where you're from?"

"I think so," I respond, crossing my arms and leaning back against the saddle. "Why?"

"Well, since you guys didn't practice bending," he reasons, still looking ahead of Appa's head, "who knows if you're actually a bender but don't know it?"

Katara's eyes widen. "That's right! You might actually be able to bend."

"Well," Toph says. "You better not be an earthbender. This is _my_ space rock. And only _mine_."

"Hold up!" Sokka says, flailing his hands in the air. "We finally have someone in our group that is as normal as I am. Do we have to ruin this beautiful thing?"

"I'm flattered," I joke. "Besides, didn't you say I'm not in the group? And what about the fact that you hate me?"

"I don't hate you," he says. "I just don't trust you. And you've been on more adventures with us than anyone who's tried to get into our group before. Ergo, you're in the group. Unfortunately."

"What an awesome welcome party," I comment sarcastically. "And I honestly don't really care about being a bender. I'm weird enough as it is."

"Still, you should try it out," Katara insists. "Just to make sure."

I roll my eyes. "Do I _have_ to? I honestly don't need another addition to the multiple things that are wrong with me."

"It's not like you're insane," Sokka points out. "Or that you're sick with something. You don't have anything that's wrong with you, physically speaking."

"Just try it," Aang says. "And if nothing happens, then nothing happens. No harm in being curious, right?"

"More than you know," I mutter.

Katara bends away a section of the cloud, peering outside. "It's almost sunset. We should find a place to rest for the night."

"Good idea," I comment in a yawn. "I'm toasted."

Aang analyzes the ground for the next fifteen minutes. I, on the other hand, am slowly dozing off, my senses foggy from need of sleep.

I'm so close to finally falling asleep…_why is there so much fire?_ Wait, no. I'm on Appa's saddle. _Fire._ Saddle. _Fire._ Saddle.

_Fire is burning everything. Why isn't anybody putting it out?_

"Whoa!" Aang yells, snapping me out of my temporary dream. "Guys, check this place out. It's perfect."

We all groggily scoot near Appa's head, peering down. And I have to say, Aang is right. The place is absolutely amazing.

It's a crater, and completely abandoned. No villages or stations or buildings. A small lake is at the bottom, being fueled by a stream of water cascading down the side. On the other side of the crater a waterfall is gushing out gallons.

"Cool," I say, rubbing my eyes. I yawn again. "So can we please go down there? Danny needs sleepy-time."

"You do realize you're talking about yourself in third person, right?" Toph asks.

"Yep," I admit. "That's how tired I am."

**#**

Rock is, and forever will be, uncomfortable. Even if it's smooth and looks like gray sponge it'll still be hard to sleep on.

It seems, however, that the team has grown accustomed to sleeping on rocks. Especially Toph. She curled up on the gravelly stone like it was a Tempur-Pedic mattress.

I look upon the kids who are just simply smiling and sleeping away. Their lives aren't _this_ hard, are they? I mean, sure, I only got a couple hours of sleep. But it was on a nice, comfortable bed with rocket sheets. They have grass and stone, and a pile of clothes.

I get up and make my way over to Appa's saddle, settling there after brushing away the hair the beast had shed on top of it.

It's not like I'd have another nightmare. And even if I do, I'm just adjusting to being in a new place, right? After another week, if hopes of returning home are as bleak as they are now, I'll probably be okay.

I grab my t-shirt from one of the side compartments and use it as a pillow. I quickly fall back into the stupor of sleep.

_Amity Park has officially turned into Hell._

_Fire's everywhere, people dressed in red are taking over. There's screaming. Lots of screaming. And I can't stop it._

_I'm paralyzed. A familiar ache is coursing through me. Too familiar, in fact. I've felt it twice in my life, three times now. I hear my whole body sizzling, crackling as the streams of blue fade off into existence, leaving me there._

_Pain. So much pain._

_And she's _smiling._ She's got some sort of sadistic pleasure in this. Like a girl version of that barber show Sam had me watch. She's got a look of success, of pride. All because of my pain._

_I grit my teeth as I try to move, the feeling erupting all over again._

_She looks to somebody I can't see, further up the way. "Did I do well, Father?" she asks. She still sounds vaguely like Sam. I can't stand it._

"_Azula, you did wonderfully," that menacing, gritty voice responds._ _"The boy has succumbed, and this world is ours for the taking."_

_Azula smiles and looks at me with a smirk. "Yes, he has, hasn't he? So, boy, will you join us or not?"_

"_Never," I'm able to get out._

_Azula sighs. "Then you are of no use to us." She looks back to her father, who is still out of sight. "Should I, Father?"_

"_There is no hope left for the child," he says. "You have my permission to do so."_

_She turns to me and inhales, drawing her arms inward and jerking suddenly. There's a flash of blue, aimed straight at me. All the pain returns again._

I sit up, refraining from screaming. But I'm sweating like mad. I run my hands through my hair and take a couple deep breaths.

"I'm alive," I remind myself. "I'm ali—I'm half alive."

I laugh at my own joke, pausing when I hear another noise from down the way. I sit up and crawl to the edge of the saddle, looking to where everybody is sleeping.

Well, almost everyone.

Aang is sitting up, patting himself in confusion. He rests his hands on his face and sighs.

"Just a dream," I hear him say. "It's just a dream."

Funny. And coincidental, now that I think about it.

He looks around and sets his eyes on me. "Bad dream?" he asks.

"You could say that," I tell him. "I guess you had one, too."

He looks down. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Hey, ditto," I say. "I'm not like everyone around here who likes expressing their feelings and interpreting dreams, believe it or not."

"Why not?"

I shrug. "I'm not a very spiritual, psycho-babble kind of person." _Ironically enough._ "If you want somebody to interpret dreams and all that hooey, go to my sister Jazz. She even owns a book on that stuff. I like to stick to space."

He frowns. "You're not like a lot of people I've met before."

I roll my eyes. "Tell me something I don't know. I'm like E.T. around here."

"What's an 'E.T.'?" Aang asks.

"I—um…never mind," I say. "It's just an expression some people use. It just means you're out of place, like an alien or something."

"We're all out of place over here," he points out. "Two Water Tribe people, an earthbender, and the Avatar in the Fire Nation? If we told somebody that they'd be pretty shocked."

"Why? They know you're trying to stop OJ or whoever this Fire Lord guy is."

"Yeah," he drawls out, looking guilty. "They did."

"_Did_?" I repeat, surprised. "I'd ask you if you betrayed them or something, but you seem like too nice of a kid to do that."

"No, I betrayed them," he answers, voice full of remorse. He lies down. "It's getting late, and you need to have your energy if we're going to see if you're a bender or not." He laughs, but it isn't his usual laugh. It's that laugh that says, "Go on with your business. Nothing to see here, sir. No sir, not at all."

Best respect the kid's privacy. I get it. He doesn't want people to know, I understand that completely. "I guess," I sigh, lying back down.

There's no coherent plot in my dreams this time. Only the sound of houses burning to the ground.

**#**

"Wake up, newbie!" Toph orders.

I jump off of the saddle before the jaded piece of earth erupts. The saddle flies into the air.

"You missed me," I point out with a smirk.

The saddle decides to hate my existence and crash on top of me.

"Not exactly," Toph remarks.

I blow my hair out of my face and manage to get the damn thing off of me. I proceed to stretch and yawn. "So what am I going to be put through first?"

"You're not going to be tested just yet," Katara tells me. "First, you've got to know what bending is."

"I _know_ what bending is," I say, exasperated. "It's where you use certain movements or whatever to manipulate these 'elements' that you speak of."

"It's more than that," Katara explains. "It's more of a connection."

"Well, duh, I got that," I say, even though I really didn't. I just don't want to do this, because there's the chance I might actually be one of _them_. And I don't need another thing added to the list of all the ways I'm abnormal. "I mean, you guys can control all this stuff. You've got to have a connection."

Aang nods. "It's like an extension of yourself, or an extra part of your body. And you're the brain. Send the right signals and you can control it."

He decides to show off and twirl himself into the air, creating a funnel for a brief moment for him to keep above the ground on. He does another motion and tunnel stops, dropping him onto the ground. "See?"

I raise an eyebrow. "I guess…I mean, I understand it. You know, the whole 'controlling another part of you thing'." I think back to duplication. "Just sounds like it would feel weird."

"For a bender it's pretty natural," Toph informs me. "The connection is just there, but you've got to tap into sometimes to get the results you want. You think I was born knowing how to see with my feet?"

Sokka looks at us awkwardly. "I have nothing to say here," he says. "So…I'm going to go slice some bushes with my new sword, okay? Okay." And with that he's gone.

I clap my hands together. "So which element am I going to try out first?"

"I volunteer Sugar Queen!" Toph says, pushing Katara forward with a block of Earth. She stumbles, and glares at Toph.

She turns and sighs. "Okay, Danny," she says with a smile. "Let's see if you're a waterbender."

She takes me over to the lake and positions me ten feet away from her.

"First we have to establish the connection," she explains. "Waterbenders were taught by the moon and ocean, and how the moon pushed and pulled the tides."

"But that's just legend, right?" I ask.

"No," she says, dead serious. "It's not. Go ask Sokka, he knows it more than all of us."

_My girlfriend turned into the moon_, I remember him saying.

This place gets stranger and stranger by the minute.

"Okaaaayyyyy," I draw out. "As you were saying…"

She nods. "So, the waterbenders learned from the push and pull of the tides. That's what we're going to do." She sets herself directly in front of the lake, putting her arms up and concentrating on the small waves that were rolling onto the gravelly shore. "Move with the tide, not against it."

She starts pushing her arms forward and pulling them back in as each wave rolls in, exhaling when the tide goes out and her arms are extended. Closing her eyes, she does this for a good thirty seconds. "Now you try."

I look at her skeptically. I really don't want to do some tidal dance in front everybody else. I'll just look stupid.

But I've seen Katara when she's mad, and it isn't pretty…

I sigh and close my eyes, getting into a rhythm, trying to match the tide. This is ridiculous. _I_ look ridiculous. If Dash was here…God I don't even want to think about it.

"Good," Katara says, almost breaking me out of the routine. "You've got the connection." She pauses. "You can stop now, you know."

I open my eyes and realize that she's stopped for a while now. I turn red in embarrassment and hear Aang and Toph snickering.

"Oh," I say in response. "Uh…so now what?"

"If you are a waterbender," she tells me, "you should've established a connection. Now, I'm going to guide a stream of water towards you. When I do, I want you to reach for it and do this." She sways herself from side to side, rotating her arms around one another. "Got all of that down?"

I nod unsurely. "I think so. Let's just do it, okay?"

She easily manipulates the water, making it twist in the air. "Ready?" she asks.

"As I'll ever be," I say.

The water stops twirling and dives for me. I reach out, trying to get that connection, but nothing happens.

Next thing I know, I have my arms raised in the air, and I'm soaking wet.

Katara looks surprised. "Well," she says, obviously trying to suppress a giggle. "At least we know you're not a waterbender."

I scowl as I look over to Aang and Toph, who are literally "rotfl"-ing. Great.

Toph calms herself down and wipes a tear off. "Oh, man. Okay, newbie, it's my turn." She turns to Aang. "Hey, Twinkle Toes, why don't you dry him off? If I'm going to chuck him into the lake I want him to be dry again."

"How thoughtful of you," I mutter sarcastically, and close my eyes when I feel a gust of wind come my way.

"Eh, I try," she says, playing off of my jab. She's pretty good at this witty banter, thing, I realize. Maybe I'll catch a couple of things for my next ghost fight—if I have a next ghost fight. She cracks her knuckles. "Now let's get down to business."

I'm led up the hill to a part of the slope of the crater, only staying up there because of a platform Toph has created and dragged up here.

"It's going to be a bit harder connecting to Earth, if you have any connection at all," she says. "You see, the first earthbenders were taught by badgermoles. And so was I."

I raise an eyebrow. "You guys have weird back stories, you know that?"

"Shut up and let's get bending," she orders. "Now, to get a feel for the Earth, you sort of have to claim it. Stomp your foot down, literally. That's how every stance and movement starts is with the feet." She pauses. "Now that I think about it, that's probably why Twinkle Toes couldn't get a handle on this so fast. He's spent all his time in the air!"

I look at her as she laughs at what is obviously a memory I don't have.

"Uh…" I say, waving my hand in the air. "Hello? Back to me, please?"

She clears her throat. "Right. Okay, so, to get connected, I want you to stomp the ground. Hard, too. No sissy steps or anything."

I pound my foot into the rock, trying not to wince as my ankle begins to sting with shock.

Toph smirks. "Good. I think that if you're an earthbender you'd have the connection by now, seeing that you don't spend half of your time in the air."

How wrong you are, Toph.

"So what do I do now?" I ask. "Another swaying dance?"

"It's good for meditation!" I hear Katara yells from down below.

Toph ignores her, as do I. "Now, you've got to try to feel the ground, like I do. I'm going to send some attacks your way and you're going to try to dodge them and/or send them back to me. You got that?"

I smirk. "You really want to see me fail, don't you?"

She shrugs. "What can I say? Other girls love bows and I love bruises."

Her smile is turned off and she looks down to the ground. Immediately her whole body changes from joking around to battle mode. She stomps the ground again and two large rocks erupt from it, and she punches the boulders to send them my way.

Here's where instinct kicks in.

I've spent a good portion of my current life dodging things. Ectoblasts, harpoons, nets, knives…so rocks aren't that big of a deal. At least they're bigger and less subtle than fifty razors reading your way.

I easily dodge one of them, and remember that I've got to try to actually earthbend my way out of this. As the second rock comes flying forward, I stomp my foot on the ground and hope for a rock to appear, or something like that. But nothing happens. So I jump over the rock (flying abilities helping with that) and land safe on my feet.

"Jesus, I was wrong," she says. "You're just as bad as Twinkle Toes."

"I resent that," I say. "And anyway, I tried doing the stone levitation magic thing, but it didn't work. And I don't feel like breaking my hand because I have to punch a rock, thank you very much."

"At least try one more time," she says. "Establish the connection just try to do something. Earthbending moves are rigid and forceful, so don't go all fluid-Sugar-Queen-water motions okay?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Uh…okay."

I get the "connection" again, and try various little dances and things to get _something_ to work. But it doesn't.

Toph shrugs. "Okay, so you're not an earthbender. I was kind of hoping for somebody to fight with when Aang is off doing something else, but eh. I guess you aren't much of the earthbending type. Maybe you'll have better results with Boy Wonder."

"Possibly," I mutter, even though it's highly unlikely.

She walks over to the edge. "Yo, Twinkle Toes! I'm tossing Danny over to you!"

"Wait, what you mean by toss-" But I've been catapulted into the air before I finish.

I scream until a feel a puff of air lighten my fall. I look down and realize that I'm on a stream of air being created by Aang's hands. He stops, and I fall to the ground with a thud.

"Oof!" I exclaim. I get up. "So are we going to do airbending or whatever?"

Aang nods. "You see, airbending is kind of a spiritual type of bending. Back at the temple the monks spent hours doing meditation. I know it sounds boring, but it's really peaceful and-"

He continues to speak, but I can't really hear him. I just notice how excited and enthusiastic he is. I can understand. He's been the last one of his people for a century now, and finding another airbender would be a huge thing for him.

I can't do much to help him if I'm not an airbender. Sure, I could fly around, but I can't do all that air ball, vortex things. I get that sinking feeling in my stomach knowing that there's the huge possibility that I'll disappoint this kid.

"Hey, did you hear me?" he asks, snapping me out of swirl of guilt and shame.

"Huh?" I say, as sophisticated as ever.

"I said that airbending originated from sky bison," he explains. "That's how Appa can fly."

"So how am I supposed to connect to air?" I ask. "Hug Appa and hope his airbending powers rub off on me?"

"No," he says. "Back at the temple, to start basic training, we had these spinning gates you had to weave through. Actually…I think they're still there. But I can't exactly bring them over here. But the idea is to be free to change at any moment." He winces. "Now that I think about, you probably wouldn't enjoy them. Usually you get hit in the face a couple times."

"Trust me, I'd be used to it," I grumble.

He perks up. "But connecting to air is really easy. I mean, it's all around you. Just a couple deep breaths is good establishment. Be calm, be relaxed."

I close my eyes and take a couple breaths, relaxing and letting go of all the stress the best I can. Maybe I'll be an airbender. Hell, with what my life is, anything is possible. Maybe I won't disappoint him.

"Okay, now that you're relaxed, I want you to take deep breaths. The biggest you can hold."

I do as I'm told.

"Now open your eyes," he stays. When I do, I see that he's still excited. Kid's got his hopes up really high. "The most basic form of airbending is what I call 'The Thunder Clap'. Of course, the monks had a more official name for it, but I thought 'Thunder Clap' sounded better."

"Why do you call it 'Thunder Clap', then?" I ask.

He gives a look that says, "I'm glad you asked." He takes in a deep breath and holds out his arms. He exhales and brings his arms together, and a loud sound erupts from his hands. A gust of wind hits my face like a train.

My ears still buzz from the loud sound. "Got it," I tell him.

I notice that he's been propelled a couple feet back. "Now you try."

I look at him, trying to silently say, "I can't promise you anything."

I take in a deep breath and spread my hands out, trying my best to look like Jesus. I exhale and bring my hands together, but all that happens is the snap of my hands together, and then silence.

Nothing's happened.

Aang slumps. "Huh. So you're not an airbender."

I shrug. "I guess not," I say.

"But hey!" Katara says. She and Toph have been sitting on the sidelines for some time now. "At least we know for sure that you're not a bender, right?" He shouts over to the other side of the crater. "Hey, Sokka! Danny's not a bender!"

Sokka, who's been playing with his new toy by demolishing some bushes, looks up and smiles. "Woohoo! I'm not alone!"

Wait a minute…

"Hey," I say. "Isn't there four elements? I've only tried out three."

"Well, none of us are firebenders," Toph says. She looks over to Aang. "Officially, of course."

Sokka walks over. "Besides, the Fire Nation are bad people. And as far as we know, you haven't tried to take over the whole world and murdered people."

_They obviously haven't met the jerky, douchy version of me_, I think. But then again, they really don't know a lot about me. I shrug it off.

"Not all firebenders are bad," Katara tells him. "Remember Jeong Jeong? And even though he was helping Zuko hunt us down, Iroh turned out to be okay back in Ba Sing Se."

A name catches my attention. "Zuko? Did you say Zuko?"

Katara nods. "He's the crown prince of the Fire Nation. He was hunting for Aang because…well, it's a long story." She scowls. "I trusted him, for a little, bit but then he betrayed us." She takes a deep breath, obviously trying to stop herself from freaking out. "However, there are exceptions to people. You are no different."

"So he might be one of those flame-wielding psychos?" Sokka asks. He turns to me. "I always knew there was something off about you."

"Didn't you say you were glad to have someone like you on the team?" I ask.

"Yeah, but that was before I found out you could be Fire Nation!"

I wave my hands in the air. "Whoa, wait. There's still the possibility that I'm not, right? Let's just try it out and we can put all of our suspicions to rest." I pause. "Wait, do any of you know firebending?"

"Aang knows a little bit," Sokka admits.

The kid glares. "No I don't!"

"Yeah, you do," he says. "Jeong Jeong taught you a couple things, right?"

He looks down. "Well…yeah…"

"Then show Danny some of that stuff," Toph orders him.

"But the last time-"

"So go out into the rock fields or somewhere," Katara interjects. "That way, you two can't hurt anybody but yourselves. And even if it happens I can patch you up, okay?"

He looks over to me. "Okay." He sounds defeated. "Let's go."

We walk up the crater and into the open rock fields, which to me look oddly shaped. I try not to laugh as I continue to see them over and over again.

"What's so funny?" Aang asks.

"The rocks, they look like-" I stop myself. "Uh…never mind. I'm sure you wouldn't find it particularly interesting."

We stop in the middle of the curiously shaped tone columns.

"I'm sorry if I can't produce any fire for you," Aang starts. "It's just that the last time I did firebending I burnt Katara really bad. I don't want to hurt anybody again."

I nod. "It's okay, dude, I get it. Just tell me what you know and show me a few tricks and we can get this whole 'am I a bender' thing out of the way."

He sits down on the ground. "From what I know, firebenders were taught by dragons."

"Dragons? Are you serious?"

"They went extinct around the time I ran away," he tells me, avoiding the whole 'frozen in an iceberg' part of that phrase. "All of the firebenders I know are driven by determination and bitter feelings. Almost every time I've seen a firebender lash out he's been angry. I don't know if it's true for everybody, but it's the best we've got."

"So what are we going to do with that pleasant piece of information?" I ask.

"We're going to use it to bring out any firebender in you," he explains. "I know a couple moves after being chased down by the Fire Nation so many times."

He shows me the movements, which kind of look like me when I'm in battle. Huh.

"You think you got those down?" Aang asks.

"I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with them," I say.

"Good. Now I'm going to try to get you mad, and maybe the firebender will just explode out of you."

"Oh joy," I mutter.

Next thing I know, I'm being shoved into the ground by a large boulder.

"Hey, what was that for?" I shout. I've been knocked back twenty feet.

"I'm trying to get you angry, remember?"

"Well, you're succeeding."

He smiles at his accomplishment. He then proceeds to swipe his arm down, sending a lash of air to whip across my face.

I've kept myself restrained for too long. Everything in me is telling me to fight back.

I get back and notice my senses sharpen immediately. I keep only two thoughts in my head:

1.) _Stop him from pissing you off._

2.) _Don't go ghost. Don't use ghost powers at all, actually._

He kicks off the top of one of the columns and send the boulder my way, intentionally missing my whole self but managing to make its impact on the ground enough to knock me off my feet.

I growl and get up, charging towards him. He sees my rage and dodges me, sending another air blast and lifting me off of the ground. I land with a thud.

I get up and charge towards him again. My mind is blurring. The thought of not using ghost powers is slowly fading. Some intangibility would work, right? And he wouldn't see anything.

Except I don't use intangibility. He lands in front of me and sticks his tongue out, enjoying this childish game. I open my palm and let the energy flow out of me.

Aang ducks and the ectoblast hits a rock column, leaving a sizable dent in the stone.

In my hand the source of the ectoblast, a fire fall of energy smoking with green flames. I look up.

Aang is staring, wide-eyed.

Crap on a stick.

**#**

**Oh yes, a cliffhanger! Next chapter tomorrow or Tuesday, I don't know. My updates might get inconsistent due to the fact that summer's ending and reality is returning.**

**Until then, I'm going to go back to writing and listening to the Broadway production of Sweeney Todd's soundtrack. Want some priest? Mwahahaha**

**-ZG**


	9. The Beach

**I'm evil, aren't I? Leaving you on a cliffie like that. I would like to clarify one or two things:**

**-Danny doesn't have his ice powers…yet. This is season 2, remember? Ice powers are going to come in later, for a different purpose. But that's a little ways ahead.**

**-And Jesus, you guys are smart. You figured out what I was going to do. Sneaky little readers, you are.**

**This disclaimer has been said a chapter back, just so you know. Enjoy the story.**

**#**

I will not curse out loud. I will not look scared by this. So I'll just curse in my head and look surprised.

_Shit crap shit crap crap out that's just frigging great friggity frak hog's butt motherfu—_

"Whoa," Aang says, staring at my hand.

I immediately make the ectoblast disappear. "You didn't see that, did you?"

Oh, who am I kidding? He saw everything. I'm screwed. They'll be asking questions, calling me a freak, rejecting me, yelling at me for lying to them.

"Of course I did," he answers.

Like I said: screwed.

"Listen, I can explain. I'm a-"

"I've never seen green fire before," Aang comments.

Wait, what?

Did this kid just set up my cover up on a plate? Thank you, Clockwork!

"I uh…what?" I ask, a little confused.

"I mean, I've seen blue fire before," he says, musing. "Azula, the crown princess, she can produce blue fire. And I've seen red fire. But green? That's new."

Azula. That sadistic girl in my dream? I'd have to ask him later.

"I er…yeah," I say. "Green fire's pretty rare."

"So you're a firebender," Aang says. He pauses. "Now we have all four elements in our group. And if I find a firebending teacher we can be taught together!"

"I guess so," I say. "That'd be cool…I guess…"

"And you're not out to get me!" he adds. He pauses. "You aren't, right?"

"Do I look like somebody who would kill?" I ask him in dead seriousness.

"I guess not. But now we can go fight people with that awesome green fire of yours and all the people will be stunned and we'll blend in because we've got a firebender in our group now. Toph's going to be jealous, though. Now there's going to be another special bender in the group. Oh! And we can-"

I stop him there. "Okay, wait just a moment there," I order. "Toph isn't going to get jealous."

He frowns. "Why not?"

"Because nobody but us two is going to know," I tell him.

"But don't you want to show off all your cool bending? Green fire is really weird, I don't think that's ever happened before. Everybody would freak!"

"Er…exactly," I explain. "You know how everybody else is to firebenders. Yeah, I'm not a member of the Fire Nation, but it looks like you guys have had a bad history together. I don't want to…to cause tension in the group. And, no offense, but I don't know all of you too well. Back home only a couple people, who are my closest friends, know about this."

"So…you knew you were a firebender?" Aang asks in clarification.

_Stupid, you slipped up._ "I, uh, I…yeah, I did. But I didn't know it was firebending," I say. God, I'm lying through my teeth. "I used it to protect my city, you see, but people don't know it's me. I put on a disguise—uh, a mask, actually, and ward off all the, um, bad people."

It sounds so pathetic. Why would he believe something like that? _A mask_?

"Wow," he says. "You're like an undercover hero! You're kind of like us, you know? Helping people but trying to be inconspicuish or whatever that word is."

"Inconspicuous?" I correct. Holy crap, he's buying it.

"Yeah!" He looks around. "So…why didn't you tell anybody?"

I shrug. "Like I've told you guys before, we don't know what bending is. I thought I'd be sent away for testing or something. And even here, where bending is popular, green fire is new. I don't want all of the attention. The questions, the staring…I'm not a fan of that stuff. So nobody is going to know except for you and me."

"Nobody?" he asks.

I nod. "Nobody. Which is why we're going to go out there and say that I'm not a firebender, I'm just a normal human being. Got it?"

"But Toph, she-"

"We can do it in the air or something," I say. "You know, say it while descending or whatever."

"But I don't like lying to them," he admits.

"And I don't like the idea of pitchforks and cages," I retort. I sigh. "We should get back. They might be getting worried."

He gulps and we venture back to the crater.

**#**

"So…you're not a bender?" Katara asks.

I shake my head. "Nope."

"No bending talent at all?" Toph inquires.

"He's got as much bending talent as Sokka," Aang reassures her.

Sokka scowls. "I resent that."

"But it's true," I say. "I'm as normal as normal can be."

Katara smirks. "You don't look normal. When are you going to get off of Aang's back? It looks uncomfortable."

I smile sheepishly as Aang makes the air scooter disappear, bringing us to the ground. I'm surprised at how strong the kid is, he was able to practically carry me without breaking anything. Then again, I don't weigh much, because half-ghost and scrawny by nature.

"So…yoo-hoo?" I guess, shrugging. "I'm average?"

"You seem disappointed," Katara points out.

"I'm not really," I say. "I just didn't want to disappoint any of you guys, I bet having another bender of your kind would've been fun."

Toph shrugs. "I can still beat you up. I'll live."

"And I have Aang," Katara points out. She realizes something. "Oh, I didn't realize…I mean, it was possible but…Aang, I'm sorry if your hopes were up about finding another airbender, but you know that it's pretty unlikely."

"It's okay," Aang says. "I have you guys, right?"

"Yup," Sokka says. "And now Danny has me."

"That's…nice," I say, sort of confused with this whole gushy family thing that's going on right now.

"Yup," Aang agrees. "So everything is normal, especially Danny. Danny is completely normal, in every way whatsoever. Nothing else but a regular human being, he-"

I jab him in the side, giving him the clear of message of "shut up".

"So what should we do now? Find food?" I ask, trying to divert the subject. "Find a town?"

Everyone goes silent at this, thinking and a little confused over Aang's rambling. After all, it's only around noon, I think.

Sokka's face brightens. "Hey, I know! In celebration of finding out that Danny is normal, how about we have a beach party!"

Next thing we know he's in his bare essentials.

I cover my eyes. "TMI, dude. Really."

**#**

Aang calms down after the subject of my normalcy disappears, joining everyone by going down to whatever needed to be covered and jumping into the water. I sit on the shore, knees to my chin, watching.

"Come on, newbie!" Toph calls. "You're the reason we even jumped in here in the first place!"

"It was his idea," I point out, gesturing to Sokka. "Not mine. I don't feel like getting caught for indecent exposure _again,_ thank you very much."

"Just get in here!" Katara insists. "The water's warm and nobody can see us."

"I don't care," I say. "This is the only pair of underwear I've got! I'm not getting it wet and having to go commando."

"I'm sure you'll survive," Sokka says. "We've probably got spares around. Just stop being so picky and join us."

I grimace. "Ew, no! I'm not sharing underwear. Besides, there's a difference between yours and mine. Mine comes from Fruit of the Loom, while yours comes from an actual loom. And it looks like a Tarzan loincloth, to tell you the truth."

Sokka raises an eyebrow, looking up from his relaxed position of floating in the pool. "I have no idea what any of that meant."

"You wouldn't, I should've expected that," I grumble.

I look over to the girls, who are looking at me and whisper to each other, giggling. I have no idea what that is about. Do they like me? Huh, I never thought about that. But it's possible…

Of course, though, those hopes are smashing the minute Katara quickly moves her arms around.

Two tentacle-like arms sprout from the lake and wrap around my legs. I try to break free because it's only water, but at the last minute she freezes them.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Persuading you," Toph explains. She nods to Katara, who snaps the tentacles back, making me fly into the air and land in the lake with a splash.

I resurface, getting my hair out of eyes and spitting out water.

"Hey, what was that for?" I ask the girls.

"Now you're already wet," Katara explains. "So swimming in the nice warm water instead of freezing on land sounds a little more reasonable."

I huff. "Okay, I'm in the water. What do you want me to do now? Splash around and pretend I'm a mermaid?"

"Just relax," Toph advises. "No Fire Nation soldiers, no saving people from certain danger…this is paradise. Enjoy while we still can, which happens to be one more day according to Mr. Master Schedule." She jabs her thumb towards Sokka, who's trying to see if there's any fish in the water by hitting the lake several times with his boomerang.

I roll my eyes. "Okay, I'll swim with you guys, alright? Just…look away."

"Self-conscious?" Toph asks.

I turn red, but don't say anything about it. "Just look away!"

They turn their backs to me and soon enough I'm like the rest of them…unfortunately.

I have to admit, though, it's nice to go swimming for once without being interrupted by, oh I don't know, an angry biker ghost and his shadow lackey. I dive underneath the water and try to plan my revenge. They _will_ pay for getting me in here.

"Hey, Aang," Toph says. "Swimming's nice and all, but aren't you worried with you exposing yourself like that?"

Aang, who's floating in the water with Momo resting on his stomach, looks up. "What? I'm wearing trunks."

"No, I mean your airbending tattoos," she clarifies. "What if somebody sees them?"

"Toph," Sokka says. "We're surrounded by the walls of the crater, and we didn't see anybody from up in the air. We're fine."

Aang drifts towards one of the walls of the crater and spots something. He races over to me. "Hey, you've got to come check this out!"

"Not now," I say. "I'm trying to figure out my revenge for Katara ad Toph flinging me in here."

"You can do that later," he says. "It's really cool! Come on!"

I glare at the girls, who are still laughing over their little prank. "Fine," I say.

He leads me over to an opening in the crater wall, where water is gushing over rocks into a dark cavern. Jesus, is it just me, or has my vocabulary been improving ever since I got here?

"A dark cave with water," I realize. "That's…cool, I guess."

"We should go down it," Aang says.

"Are you crazy?" I ask him. "We could hit our heads, or end up at the end of the cave with no way of getting out!"

"I could always waterbend us back up here," he counters. "Or we could blast our way through with your cool green fire."

"Shhh!" I hush. "They could hear you!" I look over to the gushing water. "I don't know…I just have a bad feeling about it, you know?"

"What?" Aang asks. "Are you possumchicken?"

"No!"

"Then why are you so scared to go down there?" he asks with a smile.

"I'm not scared," I say. My dignity gets the best of me. "You know what? Let's go. Right now."

"Awesome!" Aang exclaims, and he jumps into the water first thing.

I sigh and follow him, immediately taken away by the current.

"Ahhh!" I scream as I try to dodge multiple rocks and the stalagmites (or is it stalactites? I can't remember) on the roof of the cavern. Aang, of course, is having the time of his life, just letting the water take him wherever it's going.

This cave is deeper than I thought…

I decide that if I'm going to finish off dying, I'll do it having fun. I stop dodging and it actually gets easier, and the current makes me dodge the rocks anyways.

A bright light appears and keeps getting closer each minute. Am I actually dying? Did I drown some way back and now I'm going to Heaven? Or a pleasantly-lit Hell?

Aang disappears in the light with a rather loud, "Ya-Hoooo!"

As I near the light I realize that it's all familiar. The woods, the trees. I haven't died. The cave isn't a cave, it's a tunnel. But where does it end at?

I get the answer when I plummet off of the side and get hit by the waterfall.

Aang has already fallen, but I've been known to be a routine belly-flopper. He's still resurfacing, so maybe I can just…

I let the chill run down my back and turn into Phantom, flying out of the waterfall and floating down until I'm ten feet above the water. Aang's head emerges from the water, Momo on his shoulders. Was he there all this time? I need to pay better attention.

I transform back to human and drop into the water.

I have to admit, other than almost falling to my imminent death, that was pretty awesome.

"Wasn't that great?" Aang asks.

"Great?" I repeat. "That was awesome! Even better than the Typhoon Torrent at the water park."

"Huh?" he asks, confused.

"What I mean to say is that it was pretty awesome," I restate, realizing I'm going to have to choosy about which references I use around these people. "We better get back before they think we were kidnapped or something."

He looks up at the big crater walls. "Want me to help you get back up there?" he asks.

I smile. "Nah, I'm good. I, uh, found a passage way I can use. Besides, I think I'll stay out here for another minute or two."

"You sure? Somebody might see you and get suspicious. I don't think swimming in this lake is very common."

I wave my hand dismissively. "I'm good. Go ahead."

He nods and jumps from rock to rock in bursts of air, jumping over the wall and presumably back to the lake.

I haven't flown in a week or so. And it's been bugging me.

I transform and propel myself into the air and turn invisible, just so that they don't get suspicious about the stream black darting around in the air.

Flying is awesome, I'll tell you that. Especially flying on your own. No plans, or flying bison. Just you. It's like hang gliding or streamlining, but you don't just go in a straight line or have a bulky triangle on your back. It's a powerful feeling.

So sue me if I decided to loop around in the air for a good five minutes.

But I remember that people are waiting for me. I dive down and hide behind Appa, transforming back to human and feeling cold from the water. It's not like Appa can speak, so I turn intangible and dry myself off.

I walk out and the whole group stares at me.

"Where were you?" Toph asks.

"Swimming," I answer simply. It's the truth.

"But how'd you get back? It's not like you just flew over the walls of the crater," Sokka presses.

I smirk. "I found a way back," I say. "It's nothing you need to worry about. I'm back now."

"Why don't we start cooking up that food from the village?" Aang asks. "I'm _hungry_."

"Ugh, me too," Toph whines, falling down onto her back.

At least these people don't stay on one subject for long.

**#**

_What's right and wrong anymore?_

_I know I'm not myself, and that thought isn't mine. I'm lying down on a bed in a wooden house. I think I'm near the beach, because I can hear waves crashing and the air smells salty. Whoever I am right now hasn't been able to sleep. They've been thinking._

_Everybody else is asleep. The girl with long black hair next to me, the bubbly-looking girl across the way, and my sister straight across from me. Not my sister, but the person I am right now's sister. I recognize her._

_It's that girl from the night before._

_Except, she's sleeping instead of killing me._

_But back to the thoughts._

_Before, right and wrong were simple. Right was whatever it took to please the Fire Nation and my father. Whatever it took to get my honor back, and that meant doing anything to get to it. Wrong was the exact opposite of all those things._

_But now…now it's different._

_All those people have been hurt by what we did to them. I know, I've seen it. And suddenly right isn't _right_ anymore. Serving my country isn't what I was taught it was._

_But what should it matter now? I have every I ever wanted. My father wants me at his side again, I am being praised by the public, and I am no longer banished._

_There's one thing, however, that is still eating at me._

_The Avatar._

_He's alive, we know that. Me, Azula, and Uncle. But Uncle is in prison, nobody would believe him. He betrayed us for the Avatar._

_And Azula and I have sworn to secrecy the contents of what happened beneath Ba Sing Se. Not even Father knows._

_Besides, he will soon be taken care of. _

_And after that, everything will be alright. Right and wrong will be set in stone again._

_But for now, I'll just have to ignore it before it drives me insane._

I open my eyes, getting a bad feeling in my stomach.

Toph bolts upward. "Guys, call me crazy, but I think we're being watched by a metal man."

"Doesn't sound crazy at all," I reassure her. "Trust me."

"What are you—agh!" Sokka says, throwing his hand over his face. "Bright!"

I realize what he's talking about. A stream of light has directed itself directly at him. I stand up and try to find the source, which leads me up at the top of the crater.

Is that a…metal arm?

No, no. Skulker can't be here, he's supposed to be back at Amity Park. Then again, Vlad is here, too…No, idiot that was just a dream! And your ghost sense isn't going off either. It's not Skulker.

Then who is it?

I don't have time to ponder because a whizzing sound fills the air, and then next thing I know a side of the crater has spontaneously exploded. We're fung back a couple feet.

Toph lands and sends up a wall of earth but whoever this guy is destroys it with another literal "brain blast". Katara is able to set up a torpedo of water, but that's destroyed as well. So we do the next best thing: hide behind a jutted piece of earth and hope we don't become fried.

We stay there for a good five minute as he continues to try to waste us. This is stupid. I should be doing something. I can easily kick this guy's ass into tomorrow.

"This is crazy!" Sokka shouts. "How can beat a guy who blows things up with his mind?"

"We can't," Aang realizes. He stands up. "All of you get on Appa. I'll distract him."

They do as their told and start climbing onto Appa, and I hesitantly climb on behind them, invisible to the rest of them. They are all concentrating on living, and especially the subject of Aang living.

I've got to go help him. Maybe I can slip away and transform into Phantom without anybody noticing.

But they might recognize me. I look around and notice a piece of cloth sticking out of the side compartments.

Everyone is concentrating on the fight happening in what I've dubbed the Valley of Questionable-Shaped Rock Pillars. Aang is hiding. I pulled out the dark, purple-ish cloak with a Fire Nation icon on the pin. How'd they get these?

I don't have time to ask any questions. I quickly shroud myself in it, pull the hood on, and jump off of Appa.

I transform in midair, the panicking feeling associated with falling 1000 feet above the ground disappears as I start floating. I readjust the hood and swoop back up to Appa.

"But what if he doesn't make it? That man could make him explode with one breath!" Katara says.

"Aang's a powerful kid," Sokka reminds her. "He can do this."

"Don't worry," I say, donning my Batman voice, "I'm going to help him." Don't make too much eye contact, keep face hidden…

"Phantom!" Katara exclaims. I almost forget that I helped her out.

Sokka turns to Katara. "You know this guy?" He looks over to me. "Wait…how are you flying? And why is your hair white? Do you know a girl named Yue?"

"I don't have time for questions," I answer simply. "Just stay here. I'm going to go help your friend the Avatar."

As I dive down, I hear the siblings start bickering.

"What do you mean you were helped out by that spirit? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Never came up."

"I should know when you see a white-haired floating spirit in Grim Reaper robes, Katara!"

I smirk and dive down, invisibly, to where Aang is hiding. I make myself visible, surprising him.

"Hey!" he says, a little loud. "You're-" I cover his mouth with my hand.

"Shh," I say. "I'm going to help you kick this guy's butt, okay?"

He nods and I remove my hand. "You're that spirit from the fishing town," he realizes. "What are you doing here?"

Think up something cheesy… "I go wherever help is needed," I answer. Yeah, that sounds hero-like and important. "And right now, you need a lot of it. Mind if I help you?"

"I'd be honored to have one of the spirits help me," he says, making a short bow. Wow, I didn't realize how much respect I'd be getting from being a "spirit".

The whizzing sound starts up again, and I know what's going to happen. I grab Aang's shoulder and turn us both intangible.

"Whoa," Aang says, looking at the bluish outline of his arm. "How'd you-"

"No time to-," I say in my normal voice. I clear my throat and return my Batman tone. "No time to explain. We've got a fight to win. You do your part and I'll do mine."

The column next to us explodes as well and I let go of him, setting our separate plans in motion.

Aang bends a pillar towards the assassin guy, but it's easily destroyed. I fire up an ectoblast but stop short. Aang might see it and get suspicious.

The assassin inhales, and I know what he's about to do. The whizzing sound starts, aimed straight at Aang, who's just staring in fear.

I dive down and quickly make a shield, feeling the impact of the explosion. Through the smoke and rubble, I see the surprised face of the guy. But it flashes to determination quickly, and he inhales again.

I take down the shield and grab Aang, flying him to the top of a nearby pillar and leave him there. He starts earthbending the pillars, lost in concentration. I take it as my chance to fire some blasts at the guy who's trying to end our existence.

He dodges most of them, glaring angrily at me. He aims at me, but I easily deflect his attacks. Aang continues to try to pound him.

Explosion Dude goes back to Aang, but the kid has disappeared. Where is he?

He starts walking around as I turn invisible. Once I'm behind a pillar I turn visible again. I'm grabbed.

About to scream, I'm shushed. "Be quiet!" Aang says. He's _in the pillar._ Jesus, that's some good camouflage. "I'm going to try to escape him and get back to my friends."

"But he could still go after you!" I point out. An idea strikes me. "Okay, go ahead. But make sure you and your friends are some 2000 feet in the air, okay?"

"Why?" he asks.

"I've got something up my sleeve," I say vaguely and mysteriously, because if I'm going to set up a new identity for my ghost half I want it be really cool and Batman-like. Ergo, the voice and vague answers.

He nods and I turn invisible again, moving out of the way as Explosion Dude walks by. Aang jumps out of the pillar covered in rocks, landing one foot on the guy's head and the other on a pillar. He propels him up to Appa, dropping the entire rock getup in the air.

Once I see that they're high up enough I reappear some thirty feet in front of the assassin guy. I take off my hood and smirk.

I've improved by wail over time. I don't use it often, but when I do I usually either pass out or change back. But recently I've been able to keep myself from changing back. It's a fifty/fifty chance that I'll change back.

But the thing is, I have a lot of energy from getting some sleep and not going ghost for a good week or so.

I smile and open my mouth. The most unnerving, ungodly sound erupts from it. I can see the air actually _rippling_ from the sound. It sounds like a dying whale, almost. So the name fits it in more than one way.

Explosion Dude flies back and hits a pillar, knocked out instantly. I close my mouth, throat sore, and feel the fatigue wash over.

I've got to get back to the crater.

That's where they'll start looking for me; they me there last. I fly back and sit down behind the jutted wall, changing back and trying to keep myself awake. The cloak disappears with the jumpsuit.

Ghost senses are awesome, by the way. So awesome I can hear the conversation happening some thousands feet above me.

"I'm okay," a young voice reassures everybody. Probably Aang.

"Well, that was random," someone else comments. It's young and sarcastic, but not too sarcastic. Most definitely Toph.

"I don't think so," another one says. It's female as well, so it's got to be Katara. "I get the feeling he knows who we are."

"Well, at least we're safe, right?" a male voice points out. It's Sokka. There's a pause. "Hey, has anybody seen Danny?"

"What do you mean, he—oh no! Did he fall off?" Katara sounds worried.

"I don't think he's _that_ stupid," Toph reassures her.

"Did anybody see him get on Appa?" Aang asks.

"I was too concentrated on escaping," Katara confesses.

There's a silence, probably because everybody else is nodding.

"He might still be down at the crater," Sokka tells them. "Why don't we go check it out?"

I hear Appa grunt and I watch as the sky bison angles downward.

"I just hope he's okay," Katara says. "Being alone through all of that isn't very fun."

They land on the ground and climb off. Once they start searching I stand up and walk over to the shore, trying to keep my energy up.

"Danny!" Toph exclaims, looking away from me. Everybody turns and I'm suddenly encased in a tight group hug.

"Guys…" I choke out. "Guys stop…can't…breathe..."

They release me.

"Where were you?" Katara asks.

I formulate my lie quickly. "Just where we all were," I answer, pointing to the jutted part of the crater walls.

"Why didn't you get on Appa?" Aang asks.

"I sort of um…zoned out," I lie. "A-And I didn't notice anybody get on. The shock of that guy doing whatever he did—blow things up with his head or whatever—kind of took me. The next thing I knew you guys were in the sky and I was alone."

Katara hugs me again. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

I smile. "Hey, it's okay, no more hugs," I say. Really too mushy for me. She backs away. "I knew you guys would come back for me."

"Did you see what happened?" Sokka asks.

"No," I answer. "I only heard a couple noises, but it sounded pretty intense."

"You and me both," Toph tells me.

"It was so awesome!" Sokka exclaims. "This spirit guy, Phantom, he showed up and put up these green shields and fired light beams out of his hands." He starts flailing his arms around, obviously psyched out by my ghost persona. Awesome. Another fan.

"Uh…who's Phantom?" I ask.

"He helped me back at the fishing village," Katara explains. "He's got this dark cloak and white hair. It's almost inhuman-"

"He's a spirit," Toph intercedes. "Of course it's inhuman."

Katara continues. "And he had matching white boots and gloves. Oh, and his eyes are _really_ green. But anyway, he's a spirit. I don't know what of, but this is the second time he's helped us out."

"How coincidental, him being around you guys twice already," I say.

"He's a spirit, he can be summoned," Sokka says. He switches back to fanboy mode. "So he swoops down and helps Aang out, and then once Aang gets back on Appa he makes this _sound-_"

"Wail," I correct in a low voice that nobody can hear.

"And it wipes out half of the rock columns. Knocks out that assassin, too." He pauses. "You know, it's a shame you missed it."

"I guess," I say. I look around. "We should probably get moving. You know, before the dude wakes up."

Aang nods. "Let's grab whatever supplies we can get," he suggests.

We pick up various blankets, pieces of food, and other things. As the rest of the group packs up, I look for a few spare things a little ways away.

"I know you lied," someone says from behind me.

I whip around. Toph is standing there, staring blankly at the area around me but not exactly at me.

"W-What do you mean?" I ask. But I remember what comes with Toph's special little condition. Well, crap.

"I can tell when people are lying," she explains. "I can feel they're heartbeat pick up, and all the other body changes that happen when you lie. You weren't at the crater, were you?"

"Fine, I wasn't at the crater," I admit. "So what? I went exploring. Sue me."

"You didn't go exploring," Toph presses. "Where were you? Why did you lie? Why did you leave us?"

"Stop!" I yell. "God, I didn't expect some sort of Spanish inquisition."

Toph smirks. "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition."

I blink. "You got that reference?"

She shakes her head. "Just seemed like the right thing to say. I honestly have no idea what the Spanish inquisition is, and why nobody would expect it."

"Don't worry," I say. "Not a lot of people our age do."

"Whatever," she dismisses, obviously blocking off my attempt to change the subject. "Where were you during the fight?"

"I-I…I can't really say," I tell her.

She smiles. "Fine. I get it. You have your secrets, I have mine. Just promise you'll spill them later, okay?"

"And if I don't?" I ask.

"Do you really want to know?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

I grimace. "No."

"Just promise you'll tell me sometime later?"

I gulp. Asking a promise out of me is pretty big. "I promise," I say.

"Good," she says. "Now come on, newbie, before Explosion Dude wakes up."

We start walking back. "Hey, I thought of that name first!"

"You did, huh? Funny, I don't remember you _saying_ it."

I turn red. "Well, I didn't exactly-"

"I rest my case," she says.

We climb onto Appa, along with everybody else, and take off.

Seriously, what the hell have I gotten myself into?

**#**

**Multiple plot twists! Mwahahaha!**

**I made this long chapter in celebration of 100 REVIEWS. I am utterly shocked and pleased at the same time. This is a beautiful thing, guys. You don't even know.**

**I'll see you guys Sunday, alright?**

**Reviews are appreciated.**

**Toodles!**

**-ZG**


	10. AN

**Hey guys!**

**I know this is an annoying thing to do, but I honestly had no other way to tell you that I will not be back until next week. Life has suddenly gotten in the way, what with back to school shopping and such, and I found myself strapped for time this week. I barely got 500 words completed. I promise, however, to return this Friday, once all this hype has gone down. Besides, my writing flair has been faltering lately, and I need some time to regenerate my ideas.**

**Until then!**

**-ZG**


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